Tag Archives: Ambrose Bierce

An Andorean warrior, curiously in mufti, stares in wonder….

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Ffolkes,

One technique I’ve developed, in the past two-plus years of writing this blog, has to do with this introductory section, which, if you’ve more than one time logged in to read here, you are aware the intro has long been my nemesis, so far as consistency goes…. Nothing I’ve been able to come up with has ever struck me as the one sure way to go, so, every morning, I sit and stare at the blank white screen, filled with as much ignorance as I ever allow myself to experience, in regards to what the hell to put there to fill up the vast void of white that confronts me, here, and in my nightmares….

Now, consistency, as you also may know, is NOT one of our watchwords; one of history’s great minds once told us that it is not necessarily a good thing, defining it as merely a concern of those with no real genius in them (“the hobgoblin of tiny minds” I think was the phrase used…. and, I forget, whether it was GB Shaw, or GK Chesterton, or exactly who first said it…. It was one of those eighteenth or nineteenth century Brit lit icons….

It will come to me, whereupon I’ll insert it into the narrative, probably in some parentheses, as here….. I know how y’all love it when I editorialize in the middle of stuff….).  Where was I? Oh, right, consistency…

Since it doesn’t concern us overly, I’ve never worried about achieving it to any significant degree, at least, not here…. There ARE parts of my life where I’m very consistent, but, nobody really cares much how well I can cook, or tie my shoes, so, it’s not really an issue for me…. except here…. Oh, I don’t really CARE if I’m consistent; I just want it to be uniformly good, or readable, or whatever adjective you choose to say I like people to like what I write…. If they get either a chuckle, or a random thought about morality, ethics, or compassionate love for others,  out of what I produce, well, I’m good with that….

If they don’t, I do try to give folks, and ffolkes, every opportunity to object, or to disagree, or to otherwise express their thoughts and/or feelings about what I’ve written….. Since that’s true, and the ball’s in their court, I feel as if I’ve done all I can do….

That, as you are well aware, is something in which I firmly believe, i.e., “All you can do is all you can do”, so, I feel as if I’m pretty well entitled to be guilt-free, at least in that respect…. Of course, there are always those who might disagree with that assessment, but, for those misguided few, we have a special procedure, involving large plastic anal probes, and a number of excitable young primates borrowed from a local zoo…

Ooh, that’s nasty! It might be good at this point to remind y’all about today’s special offer…. Today, and today only, we will be offering each and every participant in this…. well, whatever it is… each one in attendance, whether recently buffed or polished, will be supplied with their very own portion of whoop-ass, and the opportunity to let it out on a real, actual, dyed-in-the-wool politician, which we have taken the trouble to capture and sedate, so you won’t even have to tie them down to whoop on them…. Each one is fresh from a recent press conference, so you know they’ve been lying; thus, no guilt necessary for putting them through your personal wringer….

Okay, I’m done now…. I’m relatively awake, have consumed sufficient coffee that homicide is no longer an issue, and ready to move on to another form of personal torture…. I can’t say that today’s intro comes up to the standard set yesterday (that was a good one, I thought….), but, hey, it’s got six paragraphs, or more, so, it’s legal, and that, as you know, is all I really care about…. In fact, having thus completed the obligatory number of references, we can now do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon — that’s hard.” — Commander Montgomery Scott, Star Trek IV, The Search for Spock

(It was Ralph Waldo, the Emerson, and the quote says, precisely: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”  And, yes, I was totally wrong about the author’s nationality, though not the time period….)

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I am beset today by the onset of heat; the temperature here on the coast is supposed to go into the nineties this afternoon, and I’m NOT looking forward to it at all. I’m no longer the young stud I used to be, and can’t seem to tolerate the heat like I could in my younger days…. I used to go to Arizona in the summertime, when in my teens; if California wasn’t hot enough for me, I liked to go visit my uncle, in Tempe, spending time wandering around the desert, dodging snakes and Indian spirits, & soaking in the rays…

Now, these days, I don’t tolerate it well when it gets above 85º F, or so, and it’s supposed to hit 94 today. My intention is to either sit in a cool tub all afternoon, or go somewhere air-conditioned, and pretend to be interested in whatever is going on there…. for as long as necessary to avoid getting sweaty and/or miserable….

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “what does this have to do with a Pearl?” The answer to that would be, “not much”, but, enough…. It means that I’m not going to rant in this section, as I can’t find it in me to do so this morning…. It is already warmer than I like, so, I’m going to get this Pearl done as quickly as I can, so I can go seek out cooler pastures for the day…. Hence, the following seven-star pearl, sans parameters, our fastest product, construction-wise…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it should be a good one….

“Sometimes I think I understand everything… Then I regain consciousness.” — Smart Bee

“So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Pericles

—-> If you cut here, you’ll ruin your monitor. <—-

“Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 19

“As the tempest and the thunder affect not the sun or the stars, but spend their fury on stones and trees below; so injuries ascend not to the Soul of the great, but waste themselves on such as are those who offer them.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

“The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Always tell the truth–if you want to make trouble.” — Smart Bee

See? Told ya….. (It’s all in the wrist….)

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I found this poem in Smart Bee, hanging around in prose format…. I really like it, so, I tried to break it down into its poetic frames, or verses, but, I’m not sure I got it the way Rainer intended it to be when he wrote it… If you feel it should be different, feel free to leave a comment, showing how you’d do it; I’m sure somebody can do it better, and I’ve tried long enough… Enjoy, please, it’s a good one, even if the cadence or structure is a bit off…..

Again, Again!

 Again, again, even if we know the countryside of love,
and the  tiny churchyard with its names mourning,
and the chasm, more and more silent, terrifying,
into which the others dropped: 
we walk out together anyway beneath the ancient trees,
we lie down again, again,
among the flowers, and face the sky.

 — Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

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This Pearl has turned on me a bit…. it’s taken me almost two full hours to get this far, and I haven’t ranted at all. Not only that, but, I still don’t have a clue as to what should go here…. I’m not filled with enough angst to produce anything worthwhile in the way of a rant, nor do I really want to let Smart Bee loose again; it might get the wrong idea…. What to do, what to do…. I know, I’ll take a short break, and see what comes up when I return…..

I’m back, and I’ll bet you never even noticed I was gone, did ya?… S’okay, I didn’t expect to be that long, but, got busy spending money online…. more’s the pity… Any who, I decided to go with an older rant, from a couple of years ago, about one of my favorite subjects, to wit: human intelligence, and/or the glaring lack thereof in today’s world…. Enjoy!….

From 6/26/2012:

IDIOT, n.  A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.  The Idiot’s activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but “pervades and regulates the whole.”  He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable.  He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

When I picked out this pearl, I had intended to write a piece exploring human intelligence. However, my brain had a different plan, and all of the thoughts that I had marshaled to use went into the wind, poof, gone….. Since I’m feeling a bit lazy today, I’m keeping the pearl, and writing something about it anyway, so there….

Ranting about human stupidity is an endless challenge; there is so much of it to pick from that the choosing becomes harder than the actual writing. Every day’s news brings more examples of how dumb folks can be, and finding just one that is acceptable is merely a matter of deciding which is the better choice from a humorous view, or a serious view, or whatever viewpoint from which we will write. I’ve yet to see a single day when there weren’t at least four or five instances of stories that illustrate how talented people are at finding new ways to show how stupid they really are…..

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long

We’ve all seen this one, I think; if not this one by Robert Heinlein, then one from another author or philosopher. It’s a pretty common theme, after all. Often, examples can be found on the front pages, especially during election years. But the back pages also carry numerous examples, taken from real life…. such as this one….

Back when I was attending the University of Utah, The Daily Utah Chronicle ran a joke ad for a debate between Phil Donahue and Whiskers the Lamb. Over 30 people showed up.  (what they were expecting, God only knows.) — Smart Bee

In order to further prove my point, here is an example taken from today’s news….

http://www.fark.com/comments/7182500 

This link leads to a very short article from Yahoo news, and is a perfect example of how the world is going mad, step by step….. I’m not even going to comment on the article, as it’s already too hard to think about it without laughing at the absurdity of the whole issue…..

Okay, I think my point is proved. The human race is pretty stupid, and getting stupider all the time. Sure, we’ve got men in space, we’ve raised the average age to 72 with medical advances, we’ve been to the moon. But we also are still making war on each other. We still abuse animals, and women, and children, and any thing else that is weaker, and will stand still. We are still killing ourselves, and denying that it is even happening.

My only hope at this point is for something to happen to change human nature, to turn us away from this path we’ve chosen to walk. I hope it will happen, but I’m afraid the power of stupidity may just be greater than the power of hope….

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Well, there you have it, such as it may be…. I’m certainly not going to do it again, at least, not until tomorrow, when I flog myself once again. to get up at this ungodly hour, while my frail old body has a modicum of use left in it, and do this all over, but, different… I hope. Until that time, I bid thee adieu….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

Dozer

A schlemiel, or a putz?… Not an easy choice….

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Ffolkes,

There are moments, when I sit to begin each day, when my mind wanders, into places that other people know not…. which is something about which they should be very glad…. But, in a real sense, that could easily be said of just about anyone’s mind, not just mine, so, y’all probably have an idea of the kinds of places I mean; I don’t believe for a minute that I’m all THAT different than the rest of mankind, even if a great deal of the available evidence says so….

This difference is one I’ve always tended to cultivate, actually, as the general run of ffolkes in the world are involved in stuff that holds no interest for me; they pay attention to people that I consider to be manipulative and self-serving, and spend a lot of time wasted, to my way of thinking, engaging in activities that don’t either improve their lot, or make them, and those they love, happy, both of which I see as our primary goals in this reality. Other ffolkes, I know, seem to think there are goals more worthwhile, but, to my mind, those two cover all of our REAL responsibilities in Life….

Anything else you hear in place of those activities is most likely something someone else told you, or convinced you to believe, in spite of how silly it sounds, or how much it doesn’t seem to help at all…. I know that all of my life there have been numerous silly asses who have tried to convince me of the rightness of their ideas (about God, about Life, about Government….), each of them more strident and more insistent than the last….

Fortunately, in my mind, I learned at a young age (4-5 years…) how to spot them, determining back then to NOT listen to them, as they were only trying to get me to do what THEY wanted, not what I thought I needed to do…. and somehow, what seemed right to me, with my young, unfettered mind, and no prejudices, was that what THEY were telling me was a bunch of bullshit; it was ALL so unbelievable, I couldn’t buy into it, so I’d just nod my head, and go my way without bothering to pay much attention…. I believe it drove several Sunday School teachers to drink….

I’m not sure what prompted this, except possibly the email I found in my inbox this morning…. Supposedly, it’s from Google, but, the link it wants me to connect to is suspicious, to say the least, (it connect to a private domain, with a dot.me suffix, so, I suspect it’s some hacker, phishing for whatever idiots he can find to click blindly on the link, just the way they are instructed to do in the letter, which threatens to close my account if I don’t click on it…. I didn’t, of course, and will check with Google later….. Somehow, I don’t think they’re sending out official emails at 0317 AM, to get people to verify their accounts….

But, because most people in this country are programmed to obey instructions from official sources, this guy will no doubt end up with a lot of fools who are giving them a clear path to steal their information, all because they never learned to use the crap detector their brain came equipped with when they were born…. They forgot, or got distracted, and never used or registered the software in their head that allows them to see the world with clear eyes, unhindered by the delusions/illusions that much of the world uses as their basis for belief…. I’ll say this, it’s a lot simpler when you can see the shit coming, ffolkes; it allows one the time to duck, thus saving us from getting hit in the face with that crap, or getting it on our clothing….

Okay, so, there you have it…. A complete, unbearably long, complicated, rant-like diatribe, right there at the front of the Pearl, where it can do the most damage, and serve as today’s excuse for an intro…. Six paragraphs should certainly be enough to satisfy any official myrmidons, and the unofficial ones aren’t armed, so I don’t pay them any mind…. For now, this will do, and, since my thumb and wrist are beginning to get rather painful as I type, it would no doubt be best to get on with today’s effort….

Shall we Pearl?…..

REVEILLE, n.  A signal to sleeping soldiers to dream of battlefields no more, but get up and have their blue noses counted.  In the American army it is ingeniously called “rev-e-lee,” and to that pronunciation our countrymen have pledged their lives, their misfortunes, and their sacred dishonor. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

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Since my thumb is paining me, I’ll switch this intended rant about Ed Snowden, and the aftereffects of his heroic act of bravery, to a newer model Pearl, where I will provide links, then comment on the contents of the included articles, and the subject of those reports…. Let’s see what I’ve collected for us to poke at today….

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/09/westminster-may-have-to-concede-edward-snowden-had-a-point

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/10/the-battle-to-retake-our-privacy-can-be-won-in-the-halls-of-congress-really

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/guide-deceptions-word-games-obfuscations-officials-use-mislead-public-about-nsa

https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/07/nsa_lexicon_how_james_clapper_and_other_u_s_officials_mislead_the_american.html

“First as to speech.  That privilege rests upon the premise that there is no proposition so uniformly acknowledged that it may not be lawfully challenged, questioned, and debated.  It need not rest upon the further premise that there are no propositions that are not open to doubt; it is enough, even if there are, that in the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.  Hence it has been again and again unconditionally proclaimed that there are no limits to the privilege so far as words seek to affect only the hearers’ beliefs and not their conduct.  The trouble is that conduct is almost always based upon some belief, and that to change the hearer’s belief will generally to some extent change his conduct, and may even evoke conduct that the law forbids.” — [cf. Learned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty,– University of Chicago Press, 1952, The Art and Craft of Judging: — The Decisions of Judge Learned Hand, — edited and annotated by Herschel Shanks, The MacMillian Company, 1968.]

The five or six articles above are a series of reports on the NSA spying fiasco, complete with some articles that show us just how the assholes who run the spy agencies, and the politicians who are supporting them in  their paranoia, all tend to use a different set of words than the other English speaking members of this country, having decided to assign new meanings to old words, so they can justify the lies they tell on a regular basis, merely pointing at their actual words, and telling us we didn’t understand what they actually meant by them….

I won’t belabor the point here, as the articles are pretty clear about how they do it, showing EXACTLY what words they have altered to suit their purposes, thus, in THEIR minds, making what they say the truth, not the lie it actually is, to anyone using the language in a normal fashion. They do it on purpose, to try to hide their chicanery, and, in many cases, they may actually BELIEVE their own lies…. which makes them all the more dangerous to the rest of us….

“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom.  It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt (1759-1806) speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/10/judge-says-arkansas-gay-marriage-ban-is-unconstitutional

This one is here not because it is terribly controversial, (to me, this is no longer a question of anything but time until the laws of this country reflect reality more closely in this respect….), but, rather, because it is yet another example of the STUPIDITY displayed by so many in government….. Once again, because the Constitution is what it is, the illegal discriminatory laws are overturned by yet ANOTHER Federal judge who can read….

Yet, in spite of this, and in the face of EVERY OTHER decision that preceded it, in every case where such discrimination is challenged, the idiot assholes in the Arkansas Attorney General’s office are planning to appeal this, just as all the OTHER fools who keep trying to force their own beliefs on the rest of us keep trying to do, in the eight or nine states where this identical scenario has already been played out….

Talk about banging your head against the wall, to show your objection to having built it in the first place; it’s rather counter-productive to refuse to see what is real…. Sad to say, though, these folks are accustomed to believing many things which have no basis in reality, so I suppose it isn’t really surprising they would keep performing the same unreasoned response to an issue whose conclusion is no longer in doubt…. Stupid is as stupid does, as Forrest’s mama used to say…..

The Bible is true this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.

— Jordan Henderson

(Just for fun…. if you don’t already know it, look up the meaning of the Latin phrase, “ipse dixit”….)

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Give a man religion and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” — Smart Bee

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/A-look-at-all-that-Benghazi-stands-for-5469335.php

I finally figured out this whole Benghazi issue…. After reading some of the historical perspective presented in this article, I can see that most of it, if not all, is just an argument between the two major political parties about who can lie the best, and when they’re allowed to do so…. It’s all a mass of pots calling each other black, the whole thing…. The whole mess apparently began because the elephantine idiots in the Republican Party thought they could make some points with the public by making a stink over the lies told by the other side, the donkeyites in the Democratic Party

(I find it interesting to note the two terms for these parties, one hundred years ago, were reversed in terms of party philosophy…. The Republicans were the party of the people, and the Democrats were the rich fat cats; now it’s the opposite, image-wise… Philosophically, of course, neither one resembles anything close to a democratic organization, not anymore; they’re both oligarchies, plain and simple….)

The Republicans, in their self-imposed image of “disloyal opposition” have created an unholy cacophony of accusations and allegations of conspiracy, most of which came straight from their own imaginary fears of things that MIGHT have been true, if reality were not what it is….

The Democrats, having been caught making a paper trail, of their attempts at spin-doctoring all the information about the incident, are naturally upset at the Republicans, who are the reigning champions of lying to the public without a qualm or quiver of guilt. The Dems are upset because the Repubs are accusing THEM of lying, which is actually, to me, rather hilarious….

I mean, talk about chutzpah! The Republican Party, calling someone ELSE a liar! It HAS to be one of the most egregiously arrogant, ignorant stances I’ve ever seen, having personally watched over 50 years of this circus called American politics. In the last national election, in 2012, I believe the average speech by their candidate, Romney, never passed 50% on the fact-checking done by several organizations…

This translates to mean the candidate they chose to represent them to the world at large was lying through his teeth, at least half of every time he opened his mouth to speak…. This is a statistic you may check yourself, but, I’m pretty sure of its accuracy, as I read the reports at the time; they all had him telling an untruth with every other statement he made…. I should add, most of the rest of what I heard was either wrong-headed, selfish, or completely lacking in compassion for anyone other than his own narrow group of supporters…..

Yet, these same liars are upset because the Dems lied to the public about this attack on an embassy, an attack that came as much of a surprise to them as it did to the entire rest of the world…. The attack wasn’t one of those big, planned events…. It was a clusterfuck of incompetence, all around, diplomatically, militarily, and intelligence-wise, on BOTH sides of the issue, and the war; nobody knew it would happen until it did…. Then, of course, the media and the pols get hold of it, and it becomes an issue for them to exploit in the public eye, for their own aggrandizement….

And people wonder why I don’t like ANY of them…..

Well, that’s certainly enough for one day…. even I can only take so much of the news before getting nauseous, so, rather than use up more of my anti-nausea meds, ( medications which double, fortunately, as pain relievers…. Cannabis is wonderfully flexible, sort of a multi-tasker when it comes to what it can do for us….) I’ll leave you with these final pearls, to send us on our way to the next section….

“The simple realization that there are other points of view is the beginning of wisdom. Understanding what they are is a great step. The final test is understanding why they are held.” — Charles M. Campbell

“In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it’s a false promise, predicated on the idea that the opposite of security in risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.” — Theodore Forstmann

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I’m going with whatever serendipitously throws itself under the wheels of this bus we’re on…. Here is a thought, and a poem, from two classical Chinese poets, to whose translators I offer my complete admiration, and thanks, for such excellent work….

“If you work on your mind with your mind, how can you avoid an immense confusion?” — Seng-Ts’an

Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River
The sorrow of riverside blossoms inexplicable,
And nowhere to complain — I’ve gone half crazy.
I look up our southern neighbor. But my friend in wine
Gone ten days drinking. I find only an empty bed.

A thick frenzy of blossoms shrouding the riverside,
I stroll, listing dangerously, in full fear of spring.
Poems, wine — even this profusely driven, I endure.
Arrangements for this old, white-haired man can wait.

A deep river, two or three houses in bamboo quiet,
And such goings on: red blossoms glaring with white!
Among spring’s vociferous glories, I too have my place:
With a lovely wine, bidding life’s affairs bon voyage.

Looking east to Shao, its smoke filled with blossoms,
I admire that stately Po-hua wineshop even more.
To empty golden wine cups, calling such beautiful
Dancing girls to embroidered mats — who could bear it?

East of the river, before Abbot Huang’s grave,
Spring is a frail splendor among gentle breezes.
In this crush of peach blossoms opening ownerless,
Shall I treasure light reds, or treasure them dark?

At Madame Huang’s house, blossoms fill the paths:
Thousands, tens of thousands haul the branches down.
And butterflies linger playfully — an unbroken
Dance floating to songs orioles sing at their ease.

I don’t so love blossoms I want to die. I’m afraid,
Once they are gone, of old age still more impetuous.
And they scatter gladly, by the branchful. Let’s talk
Things over, little buds —open delicately, sparingly.

~~ Tu Fu ~~


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This is going better than I’d hoped, so rather than push my luck, we’re going old school now; I’ll take my chances with the critics…. Enjoy, ffolkes, serendipity has been good to me so far today, so, I have high hopes for this pearl….

“All history shows that every man who has authority is led to abuse it; he does not stop until he comes up against limitations…Things must be so arranged that one authority checks another.” — Montesquieu

“Imagine me going around with a pot belly.  It would mean political ruin.” — Adolf Hitler

“He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.” — Goethe

“What a fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking that by his laughter he shows superiority instead of latent idiocy.” — M. Corelli

“Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.” — Jean de la Fontaine

“Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.” — Aesop

“Fear has its use but cowardice has none.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Hmm….. Sometimes, pearls can be dense, unfathomable, inscrutable…. This one certainly is all of those, even though the actual quotes are not…. I mean, hey, maybe the one by Adolf requires some thought, but, the rest should be pretty clear…. Together, though, it’s a bit of a poser, so, just flow with it; it will come, if and when it does, and not before…. Some pearls are like that….Yeah, they are….

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No matter what anybody says, I’m NOT doing it over!…. Nope, no way! This is actually a good one, so, as John Lennon said, so aptly, “Let it be”….. See ya, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

YOW! The Zipster said he’d let us sift some of his debris!…

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Ffolkes,

In the course of human events, logic and/or intelligent design aren’t included in the blueprints, though there are some among us who pride themselves on having or using both…. Those poor deluded souls are usually the ones struggling the hardest to find either one in themselves…..

Those of us who actually LIVE with those elements, as part of the fabric we have woven, know better than to expect it from the normal run of human; it just isn’t part of their bag of tools, or as some call them, tricks….  Expecting them to show logical behavior is a pointless exercise, because it’s just not in them….

There, I said it…. Now will you leave me be? Oh, hi, ffolkes, come on in…. Don’t mind him, he’s just an iconic force of nature, who forced his way in here to start badgering me about ranting, for some unknown reason, at this ungodly hour of the day…. A PITA, to be sure…. but, I’ve given him what he demanded, a short, pointed statement on the 90% of humanity who reside on the sloped portion of that famous bell curve, upon which humanity’s every characteristic may be described as falling….. Which bell curve? Okay, I’ll tell ya….

In humans, almost every one of the characteristics that describe how our species exists, our species’ characteristics, in terms of the efficacy of our thinking, sort of, can be said to be accurately portrayed by the use of a bell curve, that mathematical model which best matches our nature…. In this model, about 5% of mankind are genius, on one end of the curve, while another 5% exhibit less than normal intelligence, at the other end; in between are the 90%, the bulk of mankind, whose minds are relatively normal…. On a straight-line curve, it would look like this….

— Genius –Talented — Average — Challenged — Stupid —

Obviously, that’s a bit simple, but, it gives y’all the general idea…

Of course, such simplistic models are necessary, to keep the questions to a minimum, and to present such arguments without creating any MORE resentment among those whose level of intelligence is part of that 90% that possesses less than what might be called optimum IQ….

Plus, it’s hard to have any discussion of this, without questions of motivation arising, a process that, once started, has no good ending…. In fact, discussions about this subject tend to be fraught with all kinds of potential to go wrong, thus, they end up creating more misunderstanding than is cleared up…. which, in my haste to find an intro, I forgot…

So, I am going to be a coward, albeit a smart coward, having resolved to drop this whole subject, as one I don’t really want to pursue…. Nothing useful can come of it, so, hey, why not bow to reality? It’s not as if I had so much invested in it that I’m unwilling to give up on the effort, is it?

Nope, cuz, as it is plainly obvious, to me, at least, just how LITTLE interest in finishing it I really had…. I’m not sure why I started in on that in the first place…. I guess the sight of all that blank whiteness threw me off for a minute, fooling me into thinking I needed to be serious, and sober…. Piss on THAT, eh?

In fact, I see by the above that I’ve managed to spew out enough BS to fill up the intro again…. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I’d planned it this way…. Nah! No way that much thought went into this!….. Whatever the case may be, as to motivation, and/or execution, we made it this far, and that, in the final analysis, is all that matters….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Always obey your superiors–if you have any.’ — Mark Twain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having thus given away the whole secret right there, with that quote from Twain, I will now tell you the GOOD news, which is that I’m not up to a rant today; not a fresh one, anyway…. I also don’t feel like spending the time & energy to go find something appropriate in the archives…. In point of fact, I’m feeling altogether lazy, which makes me a bit nervous re: the outcome of this Pearl…. But, I am smothering my fears, as I type, since I’ve decided that there is nothing wrong with being lazy…. Not a thing….

Truth be told, I’m feeling very CAT-like today; I really, really don’t give a shit…..about much of anything. I don’t feel like ranting, or pearling at all, for that matter; it’s only my damned sense of duty that keeps me chained to this desk, with periodic breaks for pain relief measures, until I get this done each day…. I guess today is no exception…. So, to save further issues of any kind from developing, I’m now going for a dive, and I won’t be back until I’ve found a seven-star pearl to fill this section…. Parameters? What parameters? I’m just going to hold a gun to SB’s head until I get what I want….

“Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s worth the effort.” — Goebel’s Law of Useless Difficulty

“It’s good to be just plain happy; it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how, in what way, because of what concatenation of events or circumstances, and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well, that is beyond happiness — that is bliss, and if you have any sense you ought to kill yourself on the spot and be done with it.” — Henry Miller, “The Colossus of Maroussi”

“Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 7

“All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.” — Sean O’Casey

“We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking…” — Albert Camus

Cynic, n.: A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“In the bigger scheme of things, the universe is not asking us to do something, the universe is asking us to be something. And that’s a whole different thing.” — Lucille Clifton

Not bloody bad for a pick-up-sticks kind of day, eh? That first quote, to my way of thinking, may just be the best definition of modern American politics I’ve ever seen…. Okay, so I’m a cynic, which is okay, because I have no plans to travel anywhere near Scythia….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As stated above, my laziness today is legion…. You’ll have to put up with another of my old poems…. In fact, I’m SO lazy today, you get a two-fer, all because I couldn’t work up the energy to decide which one to use…..

Yoda says, “learn to like it, you must, or forever will you lump it…”

I know I’m in the now, if only…..

Oh, there it is again, fiddle faddle;
  Begone, I said, vamoose, skedaddle!
It looked at me as if I were insane:
  Scoffed, it did, filled me with pain.

Where does it come from?
Where does it live?
I’d stick out my thumb,
if I had more to give.

If only, should, would, could it be?
  It went away again, this time free.
It will be back again, this I know;
  or I’m wrong, and it won’t show.

Who cares?
Who hears?
Such goings on wobble the sphere,
I wish it wouldn’t do that here.

I’ve been wrong before…..

~~ gigoid ~~

*****************************************

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today’s final pearl will be of the odd-duck variety, our newest incarnation, complete with link, a great deal of chutzpah, and a five-star old school pearl to make the point of the missing rant…. Here for your reading pleasure is the latest article from Mark Morford, lexicographer and vocabularian extraordinaire, with a very cogent take on the latest example of a corporate sleaze-bucket parading his bigotry in public…. Read this first, then enjoy the pearl that follows, all about assholes like the one who owns the Clippers….

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/04/29/rich-white-thugs-begone/

“I sense that much of this historic moment is escaping you.” — Brain

“Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.” — Ray Charles, and the Raylettes

MYRMIDON, n.  A follower of Achilles — particularly when he didn’t lead. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: `It seemed like a good idea at the time.'” — Rebecca West

Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I ‘ll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn’d,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel
Revisit’st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous,
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 4

I know this one doesn’t SEEM very vituperative, at first glance; as well, it MAY just be a bit TOO esoteric for even my Gentle Readers, who should be used to me by now…. However, it gave me a chance to use what I believe to be Will’s BEST piece of work, while the rest of the entries performed the stimulation a good pearl needs…. If that seems like a lot to read into five little quotes, well, maybe we need to practice more…. This is a very good pearl, ffolkes, so absorb it, even if you don’t ‘get it’ right off…. The power of metaphor can be abstruse, and slow-acting, but, it’s like a river that floods its banks…. inexorable….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hope something GOOD came in the mail today so I have a REASON to live!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

It probably says something about me, that such statements from Bill and Zippy strike me as so apt, at certain moments in time…. This one just jumped up into my face out of Smart Bee, demanding I use it here, in the closing section…. Actually, it tried to bully its way into the last pearl, but, I made it wait for the proper venue, and time, while distracting Zippy with a shiny coin…

Now that I seem to have purged myself of all the nonsense and crap that built up in there since yesterday, I’m going to, as they say, cut my losses, and hit the proverbial road…. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll proof first, but, I’ll do that in stealth mode, so it won’t disturb the natives, or, any of you….. See y’all tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Worldwide Celebration Held to Honor History’s Greatest Scam….

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Ffolkes,

A huge CRACK! boomed outside the cheap apartment door, just as a neat, round hole appeared in that door, as well as in the forehead of the small, weaselly-looking excuse for a human who sat, forlornly, and now, deadly, in the middle of the couch…. Turning quickly, I moved away from the door, ducking into the next room, where I grabbed the small bag containing the gems…. Drawing my own gun from under my coat, I moved to the opposite door, carefully looking around the corner to the mirror on the hallway wall, placed there for just that purpose, to see if anyone tried to come through the now sacred door …. Sacred…. holy…. holey, get it? Well, nobody ever accused me of being a comedian, just a thief…. It’s a tough job, but, hey, somebody’s, etc…. Well, you know the rest….

Even if you do know the finish to that line, I think we’ll let it slide by without picking it up…. When I wrote that short paragraph, last night, it seemed better than when I look at it now, in the light of day (or, actually, in the dark of an early morn, which is more accurate….). It does, however, sit nicely there across the top of the post, looking just as if it were really the opening to a novel, or, at minimum, a short story, and, since our society believes firmly in the value of illusion, we’ll let it stay where it is…. It’ll get in less trouble that way….

So, how are y’all this fine Oester morn?…. (Oester would be the Wiccan, or possibly Druidic term for the date associated with the rites of Spring…) It looks to be a pretty nice day around here, weather-wise, though I can’t say how it will be INSIDE the churches, where all of the various categories of Christian cults will be holding their mass delusional celebration of history’s greatest scam…. (Yes, I know, that’s what the TITLE said, and we NEVER do that…. get over it, we did….)…. Yep, today’s the day when the whole story gets told again, and all the preachers, priests, and “reverend sirs” will be repeating the talking points of the story we all have had crammed down our throats since we were little, and had no defense against it….

I know my opinion about the Christian faith is unpopular, and, in many cases, reviled by those who have strong faith…. That’s okay, I expect nothing less from anyone who can fall for that story year after year, in spite of a) the sheer unbelievability of what they are asked to believe, and b) the glaring lack of ANY sort of conclusive evidence of ANY of the basic premises upon which the story is based…. At four years of age I spotted most of the flaws in the logic of the whole mess, and over time have come to believe the same as Thomas Paine, who famously said, “Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.”

Mr. Paine, one of our earliest true patriots, also said this about religion, to wit: “All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” This, too, I firmly believe, as, every day, I see the hypocrisy and lies told by the BRC, which are then repeated in the pulpits around the nation in different words, complete with remonstrations to defer to secular authority, to support the ruling class, without whose cooperation their whole elaborately complex scam would fall apart…. It’s a good deal for both of them, as they perform the old “one-two” on the unsuspecting public, who believe these assholes actually have their best interests at heart….

Ah well, the intro probably isn’t the best place to rant, but, that’s what happens on days like today, when the sheer idiocy, not to mention all the wasted time, and loss of dignity that go hand in hand with the whole religion concept…. well, it gets to me, and I have a hard time not yelling at people to “GET A FUCKING CLUE!”….

Sorry, I don’t mean to yell, but, it’s just so frustrating to see how easily people will give up the use of their own minds, allowing these assholes, and their myrmidons, to tell them what they should think, so they don’t have to make the effort of doing so themselves, or to save themselves from the fear, and the necessity for self-reliance, honesty, and courage, that goes along with facing up to the big, bad world, and all of its scary inhabitants….

As far as I’m concerned, the Christian religion, or, more accurately, the dishonest suckwads who foist those outright lies on unsuspecting fools, for the purposes of their own aggrandizement, are responsible for much of what is wrong in today’s world, and, in my opinion, deserve nothing more than our disgust and anger, for being lied to, and for the endlessly manipulative attempts to control the lives of the less intelligent, and more gullible, members of society…. To my way of thinking, they deserve to inhabit the lowest depths of their own version of Hell, for the lies they have LIVED, and tried to pass on to others….

There, I got that off my chest, and may now go forth to finish this Pearl, which, no doubt, nobody will ever read, having been offended somehow by the above…. SIGH…. S’okay, I don’t mind…. much. As long as nobody tries to get ME to join in the festivities, or tries to convince me I am wrong, it should be a fairly nice day….

If someone DOES make that mistake, they will find me all-too-ready to discuss the issue, with passion and verve…. perhaps, a greater degree than that to which they may be accustomed, or desirous, but, that can’t be helped…. It’s been building up a long time, and I’ve never let it out on anyone, except here, on this blog, so it would probably be best for all if it never happened at all…. Trust me, I don’t think there would be much left, of whomever got the wild hair far enough up their ass to test me on this….

Shall we Pearl?…. I think we’d better do it now, before this gets me feeling any more aggressive than I am already….

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.

— Bob Marley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since the intro section turned into the rant for today, we’ll go old-school to start off the rest of the Pearl…. I’m not sure right now just what parameters I’ll use, but, you can be sure that whatever comes up today will have sharp points, so use some caution when handling them, okay? I am a bit low on sterile bandages, after the last few attempts to skim the treetops of religious dogma…. Those sycophantic dogma dogs can be vicious when they are made to feel exposed in their lies and scamming…. Let’s see what SB can find today, shall we?….

“Bullshit detector: when alarm sounds, please reengage brain.” — Smart Bee

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 201

(At first, this may seem out of place…. But, look at what Mssr. Pope says in these four lines, and think about any of the preachers or priests you’ve known…. Each of them (well, all of them that I ever met….) is a master at these techniques, all of which are taught to them in seminary, to use when arguing with us ideologues who don’t buy their line of BS…. They’re not actually argument techniques, that rely on logic or reasoning, but, rather, are conversational tricks, designed to make the one at whom they are directed feel as if they are lesser, that their words are foolish…. in short, dismissing any arguments without actually considering their merit…. A very valuable, and well-used tool from the bag, chock full of such trickery, that every preacher or priest is given upon graduation from their brainwashing seminaries….)

“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” — H.L. Mencken

(This one may not fit exactly, but, I couldn’t resist a pearl that takes a shot at both of my favorite targets….)

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” — Anais Nin

(And, is exactly what happens when one is more afraid of living than they are of death….)

SCRIPTURES, n.  The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.” — Josh Billings

“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” — Seng Ts’an, Third Zen Patriarch, — from Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith Mind

There you go…. a bit esoteric, but, hey, it’s always a good thing to have to think harder than you expected…. trust me….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Given the subject matter that has dominated today’s effort, we’ll go with a poem of mine that speaks to that issue, directly… I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it…

Rejection

“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so…”
I’d be crying a river, I thought
if ever such crap I bought.

Sorry if it hurts your sense of style,
but, hypocrisy always gives me bile.
Being lied to accidentally is okay,
but, deliberate lies make me angry, and fey.

Oh, God, hear what I pray!
Keep me from your followers today.
Having to listen to so much that is wrong
makes me puke, before it makes me strong.

I don’t know why it isn’t clear to other folks,
which is alright, you know; different strokes.
But, why should that mean that they must
force me to believe, or fail in trust?

Spare me the lies, and the make-believe,
fairy tales are easier to hear, and to weave.
They give us a lesson which we can feel
but don’t pretend at all to be real.

Reality can scare us, that’s a given fact;
still, met with care it will leave us mostly intact.
Met without fear, standing tall and alone
Life will allow us to make it our own.

Folly beckons, and so many follow;
mass delusions seem to me most hollow.
I’ll have to stick to my own chosen way
while so many go so sadly astray.

It’s lonely at times, it may seem sad,
but really isn’t, and I’m quite glad,
that knowledge is always stronger than fear,
year after year, tear after tear…..

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve already ranted, and made an old-school pearl, so that leaves me little choice, but to pull something from the archives for this section, as I’m not quite sure I’ve got more in me to write, at least, not anything worth writing…. This one, at least, is a good follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of this particularly volatile issue…..

From 4/20/13:

Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? [Who guards the Guardians?] — Smart Bee

This is the perfect opening for a discussion of gun control, for me, as I believe strongly that this is the bottom line issue for that particular subject…… Sure, taking guns out of the hands of people who are insane is a good thing; nobody, I think, can argue that. The problem lies in figuring out WHO gets to decide what sanity is, the same issue that comes up in discussing getting rid of firearms altogether.

You see, I’m sorry, but, I just can’t bring myself to trust the Beloved Ruling Class to decide who is sane, and who isn’t. Part of this stems from the fact that I don’t consider anyone in public office to have a very tight grip on sanity to begin with…. How effective can it be to have insane people making the rules for deciding who is insane? Not very, I suspect….

Yet, I read many articles that profess the belief that the police, and the army, who naturally would have to have guns, (Why? If nobody is supposed to have them, why would they need them?), are more trustworthy than the common citizen. I’m sorry, but, just what planet did you say you came from?

It certainly isn’t Earth, because, last time I looked, all the police, all the folks in the army, and all the folks who tell them what to do, are all PEOPLE, just like anyone else, suffering the same fears, the same delusions or preconceptions, and the same lack of morality, as does the average Joe on the streets. In fact, due to my experience at observing and identifying psychiatric symptoms common to the insane, I can honestly state, I consistently see a higher percentage of police and military personnel who have a demonstrable lack of moral compass than I’ve seen in the general public.

Part of the problem is that the police and military, by their nature, end up as being attractive to the type of person who enjoys having power over others, whose self-image requires them to be in positions of authority, to be able to view themselves in a positive light, as successful. They equate money and power over others with success, and so gravitate to those sectors of society that deal in those commodities.

Normal, stable personality types seldom need to exercise power over others, and so avoid such pastimes, but to the selfish, and the sociopathic, the police and the army are seen as a path to what they term as success. If you see a flaw in this logic, please, enlighten me…. Until I see some evidence to the contrary, though, I find this to be a valuable, and accurate summation of the situation, thereby affording myself the opportunity to avoid the majority of their machinations, at least in a directly personal sense….

We all have to deal with them eventually though, so it’s good, I think, to be aware of the above arguments, as it will forewarn anyone who absorbs it, and takes it to heart, allowing them to defend themselves from the worst of the BRC’s attempts at repression, or oppression, if not all. 

I’ve always found it to be the best policy to maintain a high level of doubt when considering announcements and decrees, to constantly stay alert to the news, as well as to the meaning behind what I do see there, and, finally, to be ready to jump when the balloon goes up.

Things out in the Big Blue Room are getting a bit serious in spots, with potentially disastrous possibilities threatening us from several directions, so it would be a good thing to be ready for whatever may take place, no matter how insane it may appear to be from our current vantage point…. And remember, guard yourself, against the Guardians themselves, if need be…..

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein

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Today’s Pearl may lose me a few readers, but, that’s always true on those days when I start picking on religion…. It’s one of our species most strongly held beliefs, delusional or not, and it is of no matter who judges the truth of those beliefs…. any opposition at all is going to create some resentment, or at minimum, mistrust….and, for that, I’m sorry…. I have no wish to alienate people.

But, I also am compelled to tell the Truth, no matter how hard to swallow it may be…. It’s just the way I am, and the way I insist on living…. and, I’m enough of a curmudgeon to not care at all who is offended by that…. In my world, Truth comes FIRST…..  and THAT is a policy subject to no debate, whatsoever….

So be it…. gigoid the dubious has spoken…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Feeling exposed, Barney hid behind a leaky pulpit….

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Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl of Virtual Wisdom will be an example of how burnt out a brain can get…. I’m going to cheat, big-time, and there’s little I can do about it now, other than issue this spoiler….

It’s already after 6 AM, & I have been up only a little while, desperately trying to catch up to the routine I’ve built over the last few months…. However, it seems that more than two hours late getting up is an insurmountable obstacle, and I WON’T be catching up…. A few minutes in, after some coffee, my mind cleared, and I realized I would have to cheat…. Hence, this disclaimer, to let you know that this intro, such as it may be, will be the ONLY fresh material you’ll find today….

Not that this is necessarily a handicap, or in any respect a bad thing….. Far from it, as trying to create a Pearl with my head in this state would be more than just a little dangerous, for me, and definitely for y’all, and I’m not willing to put you in that much danger, even given my less than compassionate nature…. Hey, I’m human…. I may not be a pundit, or a preacher, or even an asshole, but, I am still one of the specimens of Homo  Australopithecus who are busy killing this planet, though, with some reluctance on my part….

All that nonsense aside, I just don’t have it in me today, and I’m too late to go find it…. So, below this you will find my version of a Re-Blog…. Everything you see below this intro consists of the Pearl of Virtual Wisdom posted on November 3, 2011, almost three full years ago (well, close enough for government work….)…. I spent some time finding one I think will do, and figure if nothing else, this one is both good enough, and long enough, to distract you from how stale it may be, from sitting so long without being read….

With no further BS, or any further ado, (Whatever that is…. What is “ado”, and why don’t we want any further episodes of it? Sometimes I wonder about stuff like that….), I give you, in its entirety, the POVW posted on…. well, you see the date right there, so no need for me to be any more pompous than I already am…. Enjoy, ffolkes, & I’ll be up earlier tomorrow…. maybe…. I kind of like this sleeping stuff, it’s rather refreshing….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11/3/12
Ffolkes,
As the moon looked down with massive disdain, several large specimens of domestic droid came rolling down the street. Each the size of a large dog, the droids bristled with cleaning arms and brushes, rolling on a strange assortment of wheels that looked like rubber balls on racks. One by one, they peeled off from the street to move toward houses on each side of the street, most rolling around to the back to enter.

The spare shadows from the moon’s pale light gave the scene a soft, romantic air, as if the droids were off to visit their own true loves. But, even in this, a deep winter night in 2088, droids didn’t yet have girlfriends, and the man watching the parade of mechanicals was not interested in fanciful thoughts of droids in love. He only had one thought, and that thought was murder…..

Well, J.D. Robb could probably use it as a start to another novel about Eve Dallas and Roarke, but who knows if Lt. Dallas will still be a cop in 2088?…. She would only be in her late fifties to early sixties, and given the state of medical science, most likely would still be on the job. But, maybe Roarke will have convinced her to retire with him to another planet, where they’ll raise exotic food plants and little Roarkes and Eves…. Just as well, as these intro paragraphs are well away from her usual opening chapters, which generally start after the murder is done…. But, it got that stuff out of my head, and that is all that really matters at this point….

Today will be another oddly constructed pearl, as I still haven’t finished the poem, and no other material has surfaced as yet….. Thus, we must begin the day searching for something about which to write. With the election so close, it might be time for a rant on politics, to drive home the need for everyone to make sure to get out there to cast their opinion, wrong-headed though it may be…. Just let me ask each of you heading to the polls to use your noggin to make you choices, not your fears or bigotry, should you be saddled with such.

Use that brain for something other than sitting on, and make the logical choice to vote for the incumbent. No President, good or bad, ever gets much done in just four years, and this one deserves more time to continue with the positive changes that he’s been able to accomplish in spite of all the partisan opposition he has suffered due to the Republican party’s stated racist platform….. Don’t blame me, just go read what it says, and the racism is obvious…. even their own pundits are getting disgusted with it, as one of them so lucidly stated the other day…

Okay, wrong place to start ranting…. I’ll leave it for later, if that is what comes up in this morning’s dive…. I’ll quit fooling around now, and get on with the program…. Shall we Pearl?…..

Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul:
The mind ‘s the standard of the man.

— Isaac Watts (1674-1748) — Horae Lyricae, Book ii, False Greatness
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“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves?  Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.” — Isaac Asimov, The New Hugo Winners

In the intro section above, I started a rant, which mentioned the four years that the current President has had to try to accomplish his reforms. In that I mentioned the partisan opposition he has suffered at the hands of the Republican party. What Mr. Asimov states above may be considered as a large part of the reason that the Republicans have been so dead set against allowing him to make any progress.

Bigotry and racism are a direct outgrowth of ignorance; this is not something disputable, or subject to debate. It is fact…. and bigotry and racism are the real reasons that these people are so set on defeating Obama. They don’t care at all about how he is doing, or whether or not his policies are good for the country or not…. they don’t even attempt to address those issues, other than to create great outcries at every little issue that comes up in the news, when it suits them to make noise about it.

The Republican party has spent four years blocking all legislation proposed by the White House. This is legislation that would have created millions of jobs, and gone a long way to repairing the damage that eight years of Bush’s unlimited spending and economic disaster caused, but, his opponents have blocked all of it, in spite of the millions of Americans who might have benefited from the bills.

Their stated purpose, as outlined four years ago, right after the election in 2008, was to make Obama a one-term president, AT ANY COST, and using any means, including lying. Especially lying…. they’ve reduced that particular act to a science, and are not afraid to use it to their purpose at all. In pursuit of their ignorant, racist agenda, they have absolutely no shame…. It’s quite disgusting, actually, to those of us with more than two functioning brain cells….

“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” — James Russell Lowell

I have been noticing the people on Facebook who are posting political articles for others to read, and have noted a distinct difference in the two styles each side has shown. The liberals who support the incumbent post videos, mostly, that show the Republican candidates stating one of their asinine, dishonest attacks on the President, or an inspirational message from a supporter of the President.

In addition, there have been a lot of videos of Republican candidates around the country who have bee voicing their party’s war on women lately, with these idiotic statements about rape, which, quite simply, is something to which they are not even entitled to an opinion, much less policy making powers. Any who, the liberals post this kind of stuff about half the time, along with another half that is supportive stuff that shows off the progress made by Obama, with a message of unity and hope for the future….

None of the Republican supporters I see have come out with anything at all on the “rape” issues…. no comments at all. It’s like they are in total denial, and think that if they ignore it, (hmm… wonder what ignoring leads to?…. could it be…. ignorance?), it won’t be true, or will go away. I also see no ads that show Romney, or Ryan, as doing ANYTHING. Period.

They have stopped talking to the public, and refuse to talk to reporters. They don’t want to make any more mistakes, as almost every time they’ve opened their mouths, it has benefited the liberals, because of the depth of stupidity shown every time. There are no admiring ads touting how wonderful a leader Mitt the Twitt would be….

There are no detailed explanations of his proposed policies, because every detailed study of those policies has shown them to be totally inadequate, lacking in any understanding of the issues involved, and in some cases, pure lies…. These were independent studies, by the way, not funded by the liberals.

No, the only things the Republicans are posting are negative attack ads on Obama, for all kinds of little BS, from the recent terrorist attack in Bhengazi, to birther nonsense (yes, it STILL gets thrown out there….), to thinly disguised references to his skin color, which just goes to show their real fear….

These people are scared to death because a BLACK man is President, and they will do literally ANYTHING to get him out of that position…. One of the most highly recognizable pundits from the Republican party recently came out to express his dismay at the outright racism and bigotry of the Republican campaign, and to acknowledge the despicable nature of the ignorance that is being displayed.

Yet, the polls (which I regard as purely fictional, and merely another attempt by the media to assert their own form of mind control….. I am of the firm opinion that publishing a poll before the election should be illegal…. let us go to the polls without any precognition…. which is how it is supposed to work, now, isn’t it?…)…. the polls say that the race is close, and that it may be decided in the electoral college, rather than at the polls themselves.

Which is, to me, another opportunity for the Republicans to try to work their manipulation and voter suppression techniques to try to affect the outcome in their favor…. They did it successfully with GW Bush, twice, so it’s not like it hasn’t already been tested as a viable method of winning elections. It’s just that in this case, there is a distinct danger of the entire country falling back into the middle ages, should their cheating ways prevail again….

So, what I am suggesting, to all those out there with any shred of common sense and intelligence,  is that we remove that issue, by going to the polls in such numbers as to make their ignorance and bigotry immaterial. Let us show them that there are more of us than they think there are, and we are not going to allow them to drag us back over a hundred years, eliminating all the progress in social issues that we have struggled so hard to obtain in the last fifty years.

The fate of millions of seniors, women, people of color, gays, and just about anyone who isn’t a rich white male will be seriously threatened by a Republican win in three days…. so let us remove their chances of winning, by going out to vote for Obama in record numbers everywhere, and make the electoral college  a matter of form. (Then we can start the process to get rid of the college altogether…. should’ve happened fifty years ago… it’s a relic of the past, and should stay there….)

Go vote, ffolkes, and please, get it right!…..

(Note from the future: Well, they got it mostly right, as the voters managed to choose the lesser of the two evils presented…. Sadly, that’s still evil, if you hadn’t noticed….)
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Days and Nights of Eire

Wondrously comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I will find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes still live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
As Eire dons an emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid ~~


Whew! Finally…. Well, there you go… I hope it was worth the wait…. Actually, it may grow again; it’s okay, but feels not quite done, somehow… ah well, time will tell….
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:GIGO: /gi:’goh/ [acronym] 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out’ — usually said in response to {luser}s who complain that a program didn’t “do the right thing” when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way.  Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data.  2. `Garbage In, Gospel Out’: this more recent expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive trust in `computerized’ data. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

Many years ago, I adopted the user name gigoid, taking it from the above definition, and adding an “id” for, of course, identification purposes; with that suffix, I am assured of human status, i.e. hominid, humanoid, etc.  I chose this acronym because it is the perfect reminder of the basic integrity that is built into all computers, i.e., they can only do what we tell them to do, and cannot lie. Thus, if our results are wrong, the error lies in our input, not in the computer; this automatically cuts in half the number of places to look for the problem.

I like to think that my awareness of this principle characteristic is what has allowed me to use computers without suffering many of the common difficulties such as crashes, freezes, and blue screens of death. Only once have I ever encountered one of those on my own computer, and that was the result of a virus my defenses missed… my fault, of course, I hadn’t updated soon enough…

Oh, I’ve encountered that famous blue screen before, when I worked as a computer tech back in the late 90’s, setting up LAN’s and office systems for H&R Block…. a significant percentage of machines were dead soon after coming out of the factory box. But, on my own computers, I am very careful never to break any of the basic rules that govern those kinds of mishaps…. and I owe it all to a wise choice of user name…. Well, it’s fun to think about it that way anyway….

So, who is gigoid? Well, if you’ve hung about this blog site for long, I’ve certainly given y’all enough of my inner workings to look at, in my rants, and in my old school pearls, as well as in my poetry, which is quite revealing, to me….. but, then, if it wasn’t, I most likely couldn’t write it…. Any who, to give the short answer to that question, I’ll post below some pearls that give insight into what I believe to be true, and how I try to live….

Like any weak human, I don’t always succeed at being as moral or ethical as I can be, but, I do try, and I do feel pangs of regret when I don’t, so cut me some slack, eh? Just kidding…. What I am is all what I am, though I’m not Popeye…. and these pearls are what I see in the mirror…..

“They are able because they think they are able.” — Virgil

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.  We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.  We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.” — E. P. Whipple

It is my firm belief that it is a mistake to hold firm beliefs. — Smart Bee

Computers can never replace human stupidity. — Smart Bee

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) ”

— Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, that’s enough about me…. Hope this helps clear up any confusion, and if not, well, hey, life goes on…. all we can do is all we can do, and no more….
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Odd, indeed…. and long, too. I wasn’t sure the poem was going to make it, and it may not be all the way done, but, it’s out, and will stand as is for now…. I’m not sure about it right now, I’m too close to it to judge impartially…. so, I’ll take a chance, and let it go out as it is. I’m brave, sometimes…. but,then, what can happen, besides somebody hating it? I can handle that okay, so…. any who, enough of my rambling for one day…. I see that I have possibly gone a bit overboard in that respect today. Such is life, or as the French would say, literally, c’est la vie…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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Here endeth today’s Pearl, probably long after what might have been the most auspicious point for doing so…. which fits right in with the pomposity and heavy-handed style that still permeated my writing back then…. But, it saved me from having to come up with anything new and fresh, so, we’ll take it, and be happy…. and so will you…. See you tomorrow, ffolkes, hopefully a bit earlier than today…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

I’ll take a glazed incumbent pundit, and two preacher pops….

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Ffolkes,

Having been supremely disappointed late last night, by the weather’s policy of non-cooperation with my desire to view the eclipse, followed by a less than stellar day trying, with little success, to treat a sick person, then hanging out in an emergency room for over 5 hours, I am a little less than my normal sharp self today….

In fact, I can barely keep my eyes open right now, though I imagine that will pass once some caffeine kicks in… Not that keeping them open will cause any significant change in the situation…. I’m tired, grumpy, and not at all sure I feel like doing this….

I am, however, also the son of a Master Sergeant, who would have merely laughed to hear me complain about having to get up early to complete a self-chosen task, so, I’ll just put my fatigue, and my lack of motivation, back into the area of my mind where they’ll be safe and happy until I need them for something, and get on with today’s Pearl…. The alternative would cause me enough self-induced guilt to make a politician break out in a fresh lie, or cause a preacher to solicit a donation….. Hell, it might even make me feel as if I had done something wrong, which, as we all know, is pretty much impossible, due to my sheer genius….

Of course, not everyone acknowledges that genius, but, hey, we genius’s don’t care about that…. All we need is some sort of self-induced challenge, a set of parameters, and some milk caramels, and we’re good to go for a the next few days….. Keep us poorly stimulated, however, and the consequences can be ugly…. People have been known to sustain serious mental injury, or, at minimum, copious bleeding, when exposed to our wrath in such cases…. almost as if we were an insulted cat. Of course, I’ve never pooped in anyone’s shoes, but, there’s always a first time….

If the previous paragraph is any indication, it might not be the best idea today for me to produce any fresh material beyond this sort of random babbling…. I might hurt someone with a rant, or even cause myself some minor injury, from trying to contain the explosive power of my built up angst in the confines of a simple paragraph, or even by exposing myself, and others, to the intensity of, say, a politically-oriented old-school pearl with quotes from more than one Founding Father in it…. That stuff can be pretty volatile, in some respects, and would necessitate more care in handling than I am, perhaps, capable of today….

Since that’s true, and I’ve run out of blather, it would probably be best to get on with this now, & quit trying to impress the Gentle Readership with my erudition, when such proof is subject to scrutiny under which it would wilt like a flower in the summer sun…. or maybe, like a….. no, I’m not going there, not even to salvage an intro…. I do have SOME standards, even if they’re not anything to write home about…… Since that is almost true, if not complete, let’s get on with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” — Mark Twain

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Below is a rant from last year, which fits perfectly with the following pearl….

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.” — Alexander Frazer Tyler (1748-1813), — The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic

From 6/6/13:

“I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — William Henry Harrison

Well, duh….. As I get older, this principle, or, this observation of a principle, becomes more obvious, and less surprising. I first began to question government back around 1957 or so, the first time I ever got a look at Dicky Nixon, when he was running for VP behind Eisenhower. Even at that tender age, I couldn’t figure out why this man was so famous and admired; he looked like he wore too much Brylcream in his hair, and he smiled way too much….  (Brylcream was a brand name hair grease in 1957…)

Any kid under 10 is leery of adults who smile like that; they know it’s false bonhomie (though generally without knowing the word ‘bonhomie’ itself….), and generally avoid such adults at any cost, even to the point of speaking out, to say something like “Don’t touch me with that!”, when asked to shake their hand….. because we saw them run it over their slicked back hair, and didn’t want the grease all over our own hands….

It’s been a while since I wrote a politirant… This isn’t because the politicians have been idle, far from it. They are busily carrying on the agendas of their corporate masters and the BRC, weakening social programs, giving money to the rich and powerful, distracting the public with miscellaneous bullshit while they transfer more money to their own pockets, and go about their true business of making money off the rest of humanity.

No, I’ve just been too satisfied with my own lot to work up sufficient outrage, since my own actions right now are feeding into that whole trained consumer scenario, while I make up for the poverty of my existence over the last three years….

I know, it’s a little hypocritical of me, but, I don’t really care much what others think about it. All my life I’ve worked hard to get to where I am today, even if I’m a bit less capable, physically, than I had planned to be at this stage, and I don’t really give a shit if other folks don’t approve of how I’m living my life. I’m doing just exactly what I want to do, much as I always have done, and will continue to do so as long as I can.

Some of what I want to do requires that I engage in dealings with the BRC, politicians, and corporate slaves, and do so without biting off their appendages, because they are such gits….. Sociopathic gits, but gits nonetheless….

“Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.  But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.” — Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

In another sense, I’ve about given up…. Over the last three years or so, or just over two years of writing daily in this blog, I’ve ranted and raged against the machine on a regular basis, sometimes with a lot of vitriol and energy, which is completely justified, when one considers just how much the ruling classes act like vicious animals more than people…..

But, no matter how often, or how much, or how well I write, none of it makes a dent in the facade of respectability that cloaks those in positions of elected authority in this country. These politicians have been getting away with criminal acts for so long, by the old “make the laws ourselves” method, which makes their thievery legal, that they now believe it is their God-given right to plunder the public treasury, looking upon the structure of income in government like their own bank….

I’ve managed to acquire a comfortable retirement income, between my almost 30 years working for the State of California, putting money into their retirement system, and by putting money into Social Security for over 50 years. Together, it gives me enough room to breathe, financially, for one of the first times in my life…. To be honest, I’m enjoying it, little as I like money, or its demands on our psyches. Or, I guess it would be more accurate to say, I’m enjoying what money can do, when one has enough of it to be able to think beyond necessity.

Unfortunately for my angst, or perhaps, fortunately, this leaves me without the depth of feeling needed to rant successfully… It’s like Voldemort told Harry, in HP 5:TOOTP, “You’ve got to MEAN it, Harry!”, referring to using the Cruciatus Curse correctly, to give full effect to the one being tortured…..

So, I’ll just say this….

Politics is poopadoodle, and politicians are all sociopathic assholes….

I can’t put it more simply, or more effectively than that. (Thanks to, and kudos for, the creator of Odds Bodkins, and Fred the Bird, who first uttered the front half of the above truism back in 1969 or 70…) Anyone who WANTS to be in an elected position of authority in this world is, in my mind, insane, by definition. It takes a strong degree of insanity to WANT that kind of power over others, and it takes a sociopathic, rationalizing sort of mind to be able to steal from the rest of mankind without suffering a single pang of conscience… The same goes for the bankers, and the preachers, and the police, mostly, and for anyone else who makes a habit of fucking over other people….

Sadly, that’s a large percentage of mankind that preys on the rest, and they’ve been practicing for oh, about twenty-thousand years now, ever since people started to hang together in groups, and came up with the concept of barter, and/or money…. Ever since then, people have been trying to figure out new and improved methods of getting an advantage over their peers, using these concepts….. the rest we call History…..

“You have the right to remain an idiot.” — Smart Bee
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More from another modern genius….

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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It has been a while since I produced a fresh religirant…. the political pundits have been grabbing all the screen-time with their chicanery, which tends to be more egregiously selfish and asinine than what the preachers usually come up with….

Plus, Francis, the new Popish dude, is making up for some of the former assholes in his job with some serious house-cleaning, so I’ve let them be for a time, to give him his props, and not joggle his elbow while he’s aiming at the bishops & cardinals who have infested their ranks like vermin, infecting the entire Vatican with self-serving avarice and false entitlement….

But, it’s time, as I wouldn’t like them to think we were ignoring them altogether…. Here is a group of pearls on the subject of religious tom-foolery, an elegant phrase, which covers most of their doctrines and dogmas…. Enjoy!…..

“Christian fundamentalism is the doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable, universe-spanning entity that is deeply and  personally concerned about my sex life.” — Andrew Lias

“And we are told in the Scriptures that at the beginning of time the Lord said, “Let there be light.” But I’ve checked this out with a number of eminent biblical scholars. The Lord’s complete statement was as follows: “Let there be light. Well, maybe not all day.” — Steve Allen

“Grown men do not need leaders.’ — Edward Abbey

“Humanity has in the course of time had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages upon its naive self-love.  The first was when it realized that our earth was not the center of the universe, but only a speck in a world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivable… The second was when biological research robbed man of his particular privilege of having been specially created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal world.” — Sigmund Freud

EXCOMMUNICATION, n.

This “excommunication” is a word
In speech ecclesiastical oft heard,
And means the damning, with bell, book and candle,
Some sinner whose opinions are a scandal —
A rite permitting Satan to enslave him
Forever, and forbidding Christ to save him.

~~ Gat Huckle ~~

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Making fun of born-again christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high-powered rifle and scope.” — P. J. O’Rourke

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” — Plato

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Well, there you have it…. This is what I like to call an unconscious Pearl, since most of it was created with a (mostly) blank mind, which, come to think of it, is sort of like an empty canvas, upon which I paint each day’s picture, as it appears in my mind…. It ain’t Renoir, or Manet; it’s not even Picasso…. It may not be Twain, or even Carlin, but, it’s definitely….. there. And, it’s definitely written by gigoid, the dubious… well, I THINK so…. Some folks might choose a different word to describe what we do here…. Any who, see y’all tomorrow, should I still survive….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Wanna help bury some dead platitudes?….

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Ffolkes,

Long ago, or, maybe yesterday, I forget, I made the decision to write, in order to clear my head of all the dross and drivel that had accumulated in there over the years…. which dross and drivel, uncommonly erudite as it was, had caused me untold hours of emotional turbulence, due to the uncomfortable contrast it shows to a significant number of the various perceptible parts of reality…. I decided it would do better out of my head; in the process, it would afford me some relief from having to carry it around, and, at the same time, put some of it where it might do some good, into my ranting….

I know my rants are generally a bit strident, at least in their criticism of the BRC, and the rest of the assholes who have made our world such a bloody fucking mess, but, I’ve always TRIED to be humorously light-hearted, if somewhat cranky, in the course of taking all my shots at our beloved leaders. I also know they get a bit long for a morning blog; that has to do with the strength of the emotions that are driving the rant, and, with my PTSD still lurking about in my head somewhere, they tend to be fairly strong….

All of this is just more of what might be termed faddle, or maybe, fiddle, which is, of course, the other side of faddle…. both of which, naturally, are words I just made up, on the spot, to confuse and irritate…. Oh, not you… me…. I figure I haven’t tried that yet, so, what the heck…. It can’t produce anything worse than what usually passes for an intro around here, and just might be the long-term answer for which I have so frantically searched for so long…. One would THINK that after this much time, I might have come up with SOMETHING worthwhile to use every day, but, NOOOOO, not me, I’ve got to spend YEARS pissing around with the same old crap, buying time until we can get a bit further down the page….

I’ve even gotten to the point of modifying paragraph structure, and/or making grammatical observations, just to trick readers into thinking this crap means something, when all it really means is that, once again, I can’t think of a damn thing to write about…. so, I just jump in, with both hands flying across the keyboard, filling in what might have otherwise passed as decently composed literature, knowing that we only have a few moments left to carry this off…

If anyone figures out the scam before I can finish, the resulting tears in the fabric of the literary cloth I’ve woven can send us into a dangerous tailspin,  which is not merely dangerous, as well as too early to contemplate, in my state of mind today, but can actually cause real physical harm…. which my insurance guy is getting a bit tired of…..

So, we’ll make our way to the first section, again, where I have prepared for you an older rant, a politirant that, like most of them that I write, is as valid today as it was when written…. I think, maybe, that’s because I usually talk about crap that isn’t going to ever go away, sadly…. not until the Universe has carried out the judgment against us for our crimes against Nature, which is bound to be happening any old time now…. In the meantime….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.” — Protagoras of Adera (481-411 B.C.)?

Got that? Good….. let’s move on….

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Here is a rant posted on 6/8/13, for the second time, a pretty good politirant from 2012…. It speaks about the election of that year, but the points addressed are still relevant, as you’ll see….

——————————————–

I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember it quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections of what then were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark….
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“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism:      What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either; if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokes bozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidate’s policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, driving obliviously off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, all of which show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society.

Romney’s total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, which is why I am totally astounded, at just how many lower-income fundie conservative IDIOTS are out there in this country, blindly supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them…. All they know, or  really care about, is that he is WHITE, not black….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit….  I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

“And then shall many be offended,…” — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!…..  I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. and so much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. Stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….

End of rant…. for now….

Not bad…. as far as I can see, this rant remains as accurate in its description of our BRC’s habit of lying as it was the day I wrote it, two years ago…. I put this here today, because I’ve been having a bit of pain recently, and can’t spend enough time in the chair to keep my train of thought going…. which is too bad, because I wanted to rant about the following articles…. For now, I am including them so y’all can see just how things are going out there in the Big Blue Room, in the political arena….

As time progresses, it appears to me, events have transpired just about how I expected; in fact, what has happened is very much akin to how I predicted it would go, at least, in the continuing saga of the NSA, and this administration’s cover-up of what they have been doing, and continue to do, to spy on their own citizenry…..

The first two articles make it clear to me that the lies are still flying out of the NSA spokesperson’s mouth, so fast she’s probably having to deal with blisters…. The third article is some pretty good reasoning, and adds fuel to my predictions of impending social crisis in the world at large….

The last article is merely another report on all of the idiots in the Republican Party who are working themselves into a frenzy over the next election, thinking they can gain back the majority they believe they have…. a foolish notion, at best, since they have LOST the physical majority they believed in….. They’re having a hard time believing the FACT now true about the United States, which is the plain and simple truth, as shown by numbers that cannot be denied….. To their absolute horror, white Christians are no longer the largest ethnic group in this country ffolkes, and the Republicans aren’t ready to acknowledge that….

No further ranting today, just go ahead and read…. it will be scary enough….

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/12/us-government-nsa-denies-aware-heartbleed-internet-bug

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/the-nsas-heartbleed-problem-is-the-problem-with-the-nsa

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/12/republican-presidential-hopefuls-healthcare-new-hampshire

“Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he’ll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.” — David Broder

This statement, as far as I have been able to determine by asking around, is fairly common knowledge; when I’ve related it to people, most folks, and/or ffolkes, just nod their heads & say “yep”…. However, these are the SAME people who then go out and vote for the same idiots in every election, convincing me once again the average American can’t be trusted to find the toilet without supervision, since it is obvious they can’t find their own dick with both hands and a flashlight…. Don’t mean to be vulgar (yes, I do…) but, hey, a spade’s a spade ffolkes; calling it a club or a diamond ain’t going to win very many hands…. in bridge, poker, OR canasta….

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“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.” — Emily Dickinson

Timeless elegance, deepest meaning, and simple genius…. any more such praise, though deserved, would be gushing, which would be just ugly…. Without further silliness, I give you…. the mistress of metaphor, the princess of poetry, the spirit that haunts…. I believe Emily to be the true poet laureate of the American people…. To my mind any other candidate pales in significance, coming up short in any comparison to her body of work, short as her life may have been…. And this….. this is a really good one….

I dreaded that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I’m accustomed to him grown,–
He hurts a little, though.

I thought if I could only live
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.

I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.

I wished the grass would hurry,
So when ‘t was time to see,
He’d be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch to look at me.

I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they’d stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me?

They’re here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.

Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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The nature of humor…. is to soothe the human spirit…. or so I’ve always believed…. The Irish tend to agree, as they’re fond of saying, “A long sleep and a good laugh are the two best cures for anything.” I try to find a bit of humor even in the darkest subject matter, though I do forget sometimes to bring it out, even if I’m aware of it…. I do tend to become wrapped up in my ranting…. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t remember how to laugh, especially at meself, and me own bozoid nature…. As you can see, just thinking about it brings out me brogue….

So, to finish up today, after the serious rant and depressing news articles in section one, here is an old school pearl, whose only parameter was set to include anything that made me smile, and feel better…. These SHOULD be able to do the same for y’all… If not, let me know, and I’ll send over a humor packet, complete with a big red nose, and a number of suggested places (geographical places, not body parts…. sheesh, get your mind out of the gutter….) to wear it, any of which will make you feel better…. For now, enjoy!…..

“In India, cold weather is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which will only make it mushy.” — Mark Twain

“As a professional humorist, I often get letters from readers who are interested in the basic nature of humor.  “What kind of a sick perverted disgusting person are you,” these letters typically ask, “that you make jokes about setting fire to a goat?” …  — Dave Barry, “Why Humor is Funny”

“Invertebrate Punster–Spinelessly unable to resist a pun–So slug me!

“Don’t steal; thou’lt never thus compete successfully in business. Cheat.” — Ambrose Bierce

Do you know what floccinaucinihilipilification means?  Why yes, yes I do…. It means: “the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language).” Origin: 1735-45;  < Latin flocci  + nauci  + nihili  + pili  all meaning “of little or no value, trifling” + -fication

(Okay, so maybe it’s only funny to me….. it still stays….)

“If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.” — Bix Bender

“A guy calls 911, and in a panicked voice, says to the operator, “My buddy and I are in the woods hunting, & he accidentally shot himself! He looks dead… What should I do?” The operator, accustomed to people in a panic, says, “Calm down, sir. The first thing you should do is to make sure he’s really dead.” The guy bursts out, “Okay!…” The operator hears him put the phone down, then some steps, and some metallic noises…. then she hears a gunshot. The guy’s voice comes back on the phone & says, “Okay, he’s dead. Now what?” — Winner, America’s funniest joke, 2005 survey in a magazine

And there you have it…. another fine mess, straight from the twisted hallways of the labyrinth that exists in my head…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I feel better…. I will leave you with one final thought, from Steven Wright, who asks, with appropriate querulousness, “Of course you can’t have everything. Where would you put it all?”…..

Ta then….

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Getting ahead of myself here…. I’ve provided a rant, though not a fresh one; for freshness, read the articles you find at the link addresses included above. I’ve praised Emily, and laughed a little (in some cases, a lot…). I’m good to go, and not terribly displeased with the results, so, y’all will just have to deal with it…. or, as we used to say out on the links, play it as it lies…. If nothing else, both of us managed to stay out of serious, indictable trouble for the time spent here, so, that’s something…. See you when I see you, or not, as the case may or may not be, theoretically…. For now, just go on to your next appointment, and all will be well…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

dozer3

Save some of that tripe for later….

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Ffolkes,

If I ever get to the point of sleeping all night on a regular basis, not only will I have overcome years of light but persistent insomnia, (and the pain that brought it into being…..) but, I will have, by then, figured out how to deal with having a schedule that is written, at least partially, in stone, that is to say, a solid, consistent routine, upon which I could depend to be the same each day….. My gosh, I just realized, if that ever happened, it could lead to all sorts of stuff that I haven’t ever been able to accomplish, such as an intro section that wrote itself….

I don’t have a clue as to what that might mean to me, in terms of change, or the need to adjust my mental status to conform to reality (I know, that is what happens all the time, but, I’m talking long-term, permanent adjustments, that take longer to develop, and put in place, as well as to change, if it ever becomes necessary….). If I did, that would probably give me an idea of how to cope, or what direction the changes might take; since I don’t, we’ll just have to fake it, again…..

We all have to fake it to a degree; we weren’t issued manuals at birth, so we have to feel our way through life much of the time, like groping through a dark room with hard furniture in random places, desperately craving the flesh of shins, to soothe its savage hunger. (Why is it, when we have to do stuff like that, we have to do it in the pitch dark? Is there a law of reality or something that says we have to add the terror of darkness to whatever nonsensical issue brought us into that room in the first place? It’s almost like being caught in a horror movie, with no place to go but up the stairs where all the strange noises are coming from….)

I’m pretty sure that’s not the best place for me to go, either in my head, or here, on the screen, for you to share…. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be like that dumb jock that grabs a baseball bat, then goes up the stairs to face off the bloodthirsty psycho with a machete, or the ravening horror from another dimension that will eat us all, without first at least TRYING to use the phone to call for a little backup….

Hell, if it was me, I’d spend more than just a couple minutes trying to see if there was a shotgun, or a reasonable facsimile, lying around…. I’d feel a lot better facing off a machete with that, than with a bat, no matter how much extra reach it gives me…. A 12-gauge over/under would give me all the reach I’d need…. A Glock 9mm semi-auto pistol has some pretty good stopping power, too. (Side note: is it a movie law that any house with a monster coming is not allowed to have a shotgun in it? They never do, even though the number of households in this country that have a gun in them is fairly large…. I guess they’re more concerned with drama than believability…. It IS television, or movies, you know, and is NOT real, as much as we tend to think it is…..)

I’m wandering now, aren’t I? I can feel it slipping away from me….. which means it’s time for good old #4 again….. Hold on…

Shall we Pearl?….

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.” — Long Chen Pa

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Below you will find several links, to articles that report on the latest developments in the ongoing saga of espionage and chicanery being played out on the world stage involving the NSA, and the extent of the spying and lying in which they have engaged, for what is turning out to be longer than anyone had realized, or, for that matter, authorized…..

The first article is from the Guardian, the UK news outlet that first published the revelations of the NSA spy program, leaked to them by Eric Snowden, the former contractor who worked for the agency before “spilling the beans”…. It is a compendium of the entire issue, from the beginning, right up to the latest of the articles, the second in the list, which reports on the issues brought up in Mr. Snowden’s recent testimony to the European Union assembly…

The third is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that works to maintain the freedom of expression, and security of private communications over the world wide web, by bring suit in court against companies and government agencies who try to place limits on web traffic, and online with the spread of information useful to all those who use the web…. I’ll make a comment or two when you have read some of the material, and feel up to speed…. Oh, come on, you KNEW that was coming…. If nothing else, by reading these, you’ll be completely up to speed on this issue, which will stand you in good stead in your next BS session….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files?INTCMP=mic_232382

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/08/edwards-snowden-us-government-spied-human-rights-workers

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/why-web-needs-perfect-forward-secrecy

You know, ffolkes, I’m going to change things a bit here…. I would usually pull some excerpts from these articles, & use them as springboards for discussion of the issues, but, today, I don’t seem to be in touch with the angst needed to work up enough outrage….

In short, I don’t feel like ranting today, as much as I hate to let the chance to point out more instances of BRC shenanigans go by, without taking at least a few token shots at them, just to see them jump and dance…. In fact, I’m going to replace the intended rant for today with another old-school group of quotes, letting Smart Bee take all the shots he can fit into a five-star pearl….

“I don’t HAVE to think, I KNOW!” — The official motto of the House Republicans

“I’m just here for moral support. Ignore the gun.” — Mission Statement: National Security Agency

“Americans have different ways of saying things.  They say `elevator’, we say `lift’…they say `President’, we say `stupid psychopathic git’….” — Alexi Sayle

“There’s only one way to kill a rat…” — Robert A. Heinlein

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can.  While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise  you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this:  You will outlive the bastards.” — Edward Abbey

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Here are two haiku of mine, found while cruising through some old Pearls, from 2012, when haiku was the only kind of poetry I was writing, pretty much… At that time, midway through the year, I had yet to break my long fast for writing poems; that came later that year…. but, I like both of these, so, here they are again, now in the form they need to be in, rather than the informal format in which I found them…. I hope you enjoy them…

Fulfilling Gravidity

Writing for the few
with words of power and grace
often brings such pain.

~~ gigoid ~~

Morning Pearls

Such mornings as these
chase away my dreams of light.
I won’t cry again.

~~ gigoid ~~


As a bonus for those who have gotten this far today, here is another poem, but not mine…. this one is better than any I’VE ever done….

The cricket sang,
And set the sun,
And workmen finished, one by one,
   Their seam the day upon.

The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,
   To stay as if, or go.

A vastness, as a neighbor, came,–
A wisdom without face or name,
A peace, as hemispheres at home,–
   And so the night became.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


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Here is a pretty decent rant from the same section of the archives where I found the haiku, sometime in June of 2012…. As noted, I’m not in a terrific place for ranting today, so this will suffice nicely to round out this Pearl…. Balance is always a good thing….

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The non permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of summer and winter seasons. — Bhagavad Gita

I don’t know about you, but, I think, if someone were to sit down to write a one sentence summary of Ecclesiastes, this would be very like what they came up with. Coming as it does from the Bhagavad Gita, written prior to Ecclesiastes by several centuries, I doubt the author(s) had that in mind as a goal. It’s funny to me (ironic-funny) how often that is the case. I’ve read the religious books from several different religions, and they seem to have all been written by the same guy….

This idea led me to more research, so I spent some years trying to track down the authors responsible for all the books, and what I found is amazing…. The religious books of ALL religions on Earth WERE written by the SAME GUY. I don’t know his name, but his writing style, and the content of what was written, are the same in all of the tomes I searched. This datum is somewhat disconcerting, as it implies a conspiracy…. logic says that if all were written by the same guy, there is a reason. That reason is probably NOT in the best interests of the average person; it more likely has to do with whatever the author’s goals are….

Now, I have previously written here on religions, relating how they attempt to control the populace, to make them amenable to more control by their political counterparts. It seems now that this concept is even more sinister than I had imagined. The beloved ruling class, and the priestly hierarchies, don’t want us to know that they are controlling us. Their purpose is simple; they want us, essentially, to be their slaves…..  T

The BRC and the preachers all want the average man to work all his life, without ever realizing they are working for someone else’s benefit. The pattern is clear enough throughout history that examples are not necessary at this time, but rest assured, our beloved ruling class, with the support of the religions, is manipulating events for THEIR advantage, not ours, and has been doing so for thousands of years…..

“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Let me make something clear. There are people on this planet who are not selfish. There are people who don’t wish to control others, or to manipulate others for their own benefit. There are folks who are just plain good; their spirits are free, and clean. The problem is, they are few, and far between, and not a single one of them cares a whit about controlling others. Thus, though they are likely not as affected by the manipulations of the ruling class, they are not going to be roused to action without just cause, which the ruling class will not allow to occur, if they can help it.

The number of people who are part of the beloved ruling class is very small, compared to the mass of mankind. From what I can see, that number is probably about the same as the number of people who really understand what is going on, and object to it. Let’s say that number is about 5% (probably lower, but we’ll just use this for now….) So, that makes 5% beloved ruling class, manipulating society for their own benefit, 5% ffolkes who actually see the manipulations, and 90% clueless sheep. Well, not sheep I guess, because some of them can be pretty violent. But, clueless, for sure…. This breakdown, while not exact, represents an accurate picture of society’s makeup since the dawn of civilization….

If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t there more happy people? — Smart Bee

So, to bring this back around to where we started, the 5% of mankind that are actually running things have no investment in changing; they want things just the way they are, as they have been for 10,000 years. The other 5% aren’t enough to make the changes happen without the cooperation of the 90%, which the beloved ruling class will work to deny with all their resources. So, I have a new tactic which could help. See, we gotta find that guy…… What guy? Please, pay attention…. the guy who wrote all the books for the religions.

Once we find that guy, we either brainwash him, or recruit him through reason, into a re-write. The re-write could be artificially aged, and then found in some cave in the Himalayas, or in the fertile crescent. The altered text would be designed to negate, or nullify, all of the lies that the other books have perpetrated on society. Once the 90% is enlightened, I think the resulting anger at the beloved rulers and preachers will set matters aright in no time. What do you think?…. Hey, it could work!….

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I’m going to meet an old friend for breakfast today, so I’ll bring this to a screeching halt at this point, and try to get on with the day…. Hopefully, this Pearl will live up to its name…. and, if not, there’s always tomorrow…. See y’all then, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Spirit lamps have been provided, and lit from within….

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Ffolkes,

‘Tis a fortunate thing for all of us, Time…. Just think of where we’d be without it….. Days such as yesterday would go on forever, and we’d have no way to either stop it, or start again, or anything…. I’ve always liked to think of Time as being our most important gift from the universe…. otherwise, everything would have to happen all at once, and how icky would THAT be? It would get old in a heartbeat, for me, anyway….

Howdy, ffolkes… I’m back, and none too certain about what happened yesterday…. I’m not going to even think about it, as it was miserable there for the first while…. It all got better, as Uncle Sugar, as my friend Jerry D. calls him, sent my monthly stipend, for which I slaved away my youth, scavenging pennies for my old age, dutifully, (though with little choice…) depositing a portion of them into the SS bank, so kindly thought up for us by ol’ FDR, that master slave master with the big heart….. Having thus been forced by society to save my money for my old age, I am now reaping the rewards for that diligence, even if it was not my own, but enforced upon me by society….

None of the above is a complaint…. it only sounds as if it is, because I’m a natural grump, a curmudgeon in training…. It’s perfectly natural for me to sound that way, and, in fact, I can be cited for being nice to the wrong people…. Suffice it to say things got better yesterday as soon as I checked my bank balance online, and could plan the day’s events with that in mind and hand….. I AM a trained consumer, like everyone else, and it’s soothing to my capitalist soul to spend money….

Now, with all that having been said, I COULD go on to the Pearl for today…. but, what fun would that be, as I haven’t tormented the passengers yet, or issued any of the standard warnings, codicils, updates, or weather and terrorism bulletins ? (We’ve found the latter to be a very popular addition to the program…. everybody seems to enjoy hearing the latest warning statements issued by Homeland Insecurity…. they always get the biggest laughs of the program…) Indeed, we have yet to even board the gigoid-mobile, which we cannot do until they bring the damn thing here from the hangar….

I’m going to pretend it’s already here, though, and just get on with it…. I don’t think we can afford to take the time away from our schedule to wait for the vehicle we’d planned to use; they’re already late, and nothing is in sight…. Can’t call to see, as everyone involved is busy moving the plane….. but, that means they’ll be here in time to dive, so, I’m going to issue the face-masks, body armor, and box lunches, so we can board as soon as it shows up…. which means we’ll be on our way shortly…. Whew, good thing, as I don’t think I could fake this much longer…

Shall we Pearl?…..

“And this,” said Caesar, “you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caesar

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WARNING: The following pearl grew beyond all reasonable boundaries, until I finally had to use a variation of Emergency Method #6 to get quit of it…. I’m putting in a disclaimer so you may skim over it to the poetry section, if you wish…. but, I wish you wouldn’t, as it’s a pretty good rant, all in all….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/USAID-chief-to-face-questions-on-Cuban-Twitter-5384467.php

Ominous key phrase: “publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross.  He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access, using sensitive technology that only governments use.”

I almost missed this little “tell” from the media lackey who wrote this, shall we say, LESS than unbiased report…. Sensitive technology that only governments use… What was that? That only GOVERNMENTS use? When did a government become NOT a person with a laptop? What does this mean, that “only” governments use some kinds of technology?

Does this imply to you, as it does to me, that there are things they aren’t telling us, in terms of the available technology in certain fields? You mean the government is, GASP! , LYING TO US? They’re keeping advanced technology away from the public? Why, I’m shocked, I tell you, simply shocked…

What the hell ELSE could it mean, ffolkes? Apparently, the government(s)(!!!) have technology the rest of us aren’t allowed to have, if any of this is at all accurate…. and, I’m guessing it is. (!!!) There you go, ffolkes, they’ve let the cat out of the bag, and it is now clawing its way up your leg toward where you keep you wallet, to snag its contents for the corporate masters who assign the tasks for their government myrmidons to carry out…. clandestinely, with the technology they’ve kept hidden from us….

This whole scenario, all this noise about more instances of spying by the government, by the way, is just MORE BS, a big smoke screen being thrown up to distract the public from matters of greater importance, in those areas where the actions of the government require the darkness that is provided by pulling our attention to other matters….. The hullabaloo in this issue goes right along with what is taking place in the article listed just below, which we will now proceed to address….

Nothing much more to say here, except, ffolkes, you’d better keep a sharp eye on your perimeter, and stay aware of whomever is lurking about…. Then, take measures to protect yourselves from your own government, who are among those lurking about, looking for anything they can steal, or get their fingers into…. and, now, we know they’re also trying to hook your kids up to some sort of techno system that will farm your information for anything that will further their cause….

“As you grow older, you’ll find the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do.” — Zachary Scott

I can relate…. I’ve spent many hours of regret for NOT having spent more time randomly shooting politicians, bankers, and/or preachers until I ran out of bullets…. Let’s move on to the next issue that prompted this outburst, which began two or three days ago, & is only now coming to fruition….

Yesterday morning, I felt like crap, without ever finding out why…. It passed, but not before abandoning this series of thoughts, which had been collecting in my head, and on this screen, for several days,, stimulated each time by each new outrageous news article I found, that could be identified as part of the government’s ongoing campaign to fill the heads of the public with useless, misleading information, or something that LOOKS like information, but, is actually just fluff, that will fill up their heads for a cheap price….

Below you will find the link to an article re: the continuing saga of DiFi and the CIA, (sounds like the name of an indie band, or a really bad, way-off-Broadway play…)…. which is followed by some of the key phrases I noted while reading it, with my comments appended where appropriate….. Just to keep y’all busy, some of what I said is in parentheses, and some isn’t….. Even after proofing, I’m uncertain as to which should be which, & it’s too late to go back and figure it out, so just deal, okay? Thanks….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Dems-slam-CIA-ex-boss-over-Feinstein-criticism-5382997.php

Key phrases in the article, taken from each side:

CIA: “We’re safe now, the CIA is here!” — Famous Last Words

(Okay, it’s not really in the article…. but, it fits, so it should be…. which is why I put it there….)

Hayden:  “Hayden could not be reached for comment.” (Mr. Hayden is the CURRENT Director of the CIA….)

( This WAS in there…. All I can say is, well, I guess he would’t comment for this article, so they used stuff from another interview from earlier in the week, when he said the stuff that WAS included in today’s brief, such as the following….) (All excerpted portions from the article are in quotation marks….)

(The report…) “may show deep emotional feeling on the part of the senator, but I don’t think it leads you to an objective report.”  Regarding Feinstein, he said, “When she gets an idea in her head, she’s very focused” — in much the same manner as current CIA Director John Brennan.  Hayden said Feinstein’s report, however, was “designed to discredit the (interrogation) program and those who said this provided useful information.”

(I don’t know about y’all, but, those statements have a distinct tone of “nyah, nyah, nyah”, as might be heard on any third-grade playground….)

From the other side of the aisle, we have the statements on the issue by the Senator, and her supporters…. most of whom are Senate Democrats:

Feinstein:  “Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement that declassifying the review of CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the Sept. 11 attacks “would ensure nothing like it happens again.” She called Hayden’s reference to her emotions “nonsense.” “The report itself is objective, based on fact, thoroughly footnoted, and I am certain it will stand on its own merits,” Feinstein said.”

(Duh! What the hell else would she say?  I don’t think she could say what ACTUALLY was true, such as ,”Oh, they’re right, the report is just another way of making noise, by accusing them of chicanery over here in this issue, so the public won’t look at what the White House is REALLY doing about all this….” That would go over real well over on Pennsylvania Avenue, ya think?…. Probably not….)

But, she had to say SOMETHING, didn’t she? Can’t leave a media hound without a sound byte….. It just isn’t done ….  Plus, if she’s telling any truth at all, it IS all footnoted, thoroughly…..  or so she asserts, anyway, so that’s something, right? That will scare them, boy,…. we all know how dangerous those footnotes are…. Shoot, the way she said the words, “thoroughly footnoted”, like their mere utterance was some sort of magical proof of truth, just MAKES me HAVE to read them, if ony so I can see what “thoroughly footnoted” means…. to them….

Udall: ” Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat who serves alongside Feinstein on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the reference to Feinstein’s emotions a “baseless smear” that Hayden wouldn’t make against a man. ”

Others:  “Does this sound like a person or party that respects women?” Reid said. Of Feinstein, he said: “She has been fearless. She has been thorough and fair… She’s being too emotional? I don’t think so.”

Good job, dudes…. Senators Reid and Udall chimed in to show the unity of the Dems in the Senate…. They wanted to be supportive of their colleague, plus, it was an opportunity to slip in one of their Party’s best strategic talking points, dragging down the Republicans about their views on women…. which, by coming to her defense, as if “the little lady” needed it, shows complete disdain for women, while simultaneously highlighting their own misogyny…. Utah must be proud….

Besides, thinking of Dianne Feinstein as a “little lady” is more than just stupid… the woman stands over six feet three in heels, and is built like a left tackle….. I know, I’ve seen her in person, in close proximity…. I’m not tall at 5’8″, but, I’m a wide-body, built like a fire-plug, or a linebacker, and don’t usually feel dwarfed by any woman, no matter how tall, but, she was BIG…. Scary, especially when one remembers she’s married to SF financier Richard Blum, a Chuck Schwab type of guy, who is definitely NOT a huge fella…. He was there, and is only about my own height and weight….

You’ll note, please, that I am confining myself to minor pokes and prods, without becoming overly vituperative…. This is because I am writing this ahead of time, and feeling quite glib right now…. thus, I am taking advantage of my momentary glib facility to get in some good licks from my sardonicism, and its ever-present side-kick, sarcasm…. hopefully, a bit of shameless guilt-tripping is getting through, as well…. But, no real ranting thus far…. I decided, here at the last, to rant no further, since this has grown beyond all reason….

Not only am I not going to subject you to a full-on, pedantic, pompous episode of ranting, at least, not any MORE of it, I’m going to stop my sharpshooting now, and finish off this epic section with a five-star pearl, with the expected parameters…. Enjoy, and I’ll see you in section three….

“He who reforms himself, has done more towards reforming the public, than a crowd of noisy, impotent patriots.” — Lavater

“The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it’s only the people who make them unsafe.” — Frank Rizzo (ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia)

(Typical attitude of an elected psychopath….)

“There are some remedies worse than the disease.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 301

(Yep…. such as any remedy for social ills proposed by a POLITICIAN, who, by nature, has no invested interest in ever solving any social issues, other than for the purposes of their own aggrandizement, thus, only in the interests of self-service….)

UN-AMERICAN, adj.  Wicked, intolerable, heathenish. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

(Typical…. Just ask any redneck, conservative, or anyone else who calls themselves a “Patriot”, those of the “My country, right or wrong” ilk….)

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

(Oops! How did THAT get in there…. That won’t go over well with an elected official; like George Carlin pointed out, such words make a lawyer or a politician feel uneasy; they know they take the risk of choking on either word, if they try to apply it to themselves…. Let’s try for another closing pearl, that will say something along the lines we’re seeking here today….)

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people are so full of doubts.” — Bertrand Russell

That will do nicely…. NOW we can go on, with confidence we’ve kicked the shit out of THIS section today….. Even though it makes me a liar, (count the number of pearls herein…..) I’ll leave you with this final thought, from one of the designers of our modern government, as he comments on the already-suspect behavior of those who inhabited the halls of our government, even back then, in his time, and, speaking with a degree of clairvoyance he never knew, eerily describing the Beloved Ruling Class, as it exists today…..

“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress.” — John Adams, (1735-1826) in 1776

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WordPress recently began placing suggested related posts at the bottom of our blog pages, referring readers to older, archived posts with similar material for them to peruse… In doing so, yesterday or the day before, I came across the following, from From February 2, 2012…. I like it a lot, so I decided to format it into verses, whereupon it turned into a poem I think I can be very proud to have created…. Well, I like it…. Here then, is the original prose version, followed by the resultant poem….

Written 2/2/12:

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty blithely commune with sinking stars, as pale shadows of former virtue hover near, ever clean, ever tolerant. These unbidden habits are worn with age and care, ready now for dissolution, welcoming gladly the kiss of death’s handmaiden. Unknown to all, the child stands aside, and weeps for the lost days of youth, days that now shall never be, nor yearned for ever after. Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape, cold, hard, and eternal. Such then are the signs and portents as we enter into the unknown future, and they are grave indeed. Uncertainty will be our sole companion, as the search for hope yields no result. The lamentations of the gods shall sound the elegy for Man, who never learned to see the gift that was made, so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past; thus will we pass this plane of existence as we came, baffled and afraid…..

Well, sorry….this was supposed to be a poem, but it just ran away with me there for a few minutes. I’ll have to come back later and look at it with fresh eyes….. Okay, so it’s not bad, as a not-poem goes. I’ve certainly created worse…..I’ll just have to put it out there, and let it fly or not, as it chooses… (I do tend to anthropomorphize fairly often; its a gift…..)
_____________________________

This is how it looks as a poem, complete with brand new title:

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I’ve made it this far, I may as well finish up…. This will be a standard old-school pearl…. I’ve ranted QUITE enough for one day, above in section one, so you probably knew this was coming… S’okay, I expected the regulars to figure it out, and the newbies, well, they have to take what they get, don’t they? I’m not trying to be smarmy, or anything, I just figure since we’re mostly done here for the day, I could get away with a touch of smarm, if I had to…. Okay, I won’t then…. Be that way….

Instead, I offer, then, for your viewing pleasure, a random, harlequin pearl, with parameters set to describe “a life lived well”…. or, maybe that was, “well, living life”…. Yeah, that was it…

“Don’t blame me–I was raised by humans” — Smart Bee

“A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

” ‘He deserves death’. ‘Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them ? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.’ ” — J. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” — Frederick Douglass

“All of the animals excepting man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.” — Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

“Mongo only pawn… in game of life.” — Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles”

Okay, to end this, here is a statement of reaction to the above that is a perfect example of Art imitating Life imitating Art imitating Life, as perfectly highlighted by the immortal words of George Peppard, when he said, at the end of each episode of The A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!”…. Serendipity is a wonderful thing….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Go, forget me! why should sorrow
O’er that brow a shadow fling?
Go, forget me, and to-morrow
Brightly smile and sweetly sing!
Smile,–though I shall not be near thee;
Sing,–though I shall never hear thee!

 — Charles Wolfe (1791-1823) — Go, forget me!


Actually, it would be rather nice if y’all DIDN’T forget me just yet…. After I’ve gone to my next appointment in the reincarnation cycle, THEN you can forget me…. Of course, my words will still be here, and one or two of them are, if not unforgettable, hopefully, at least, memorable…. On that note, anything other than tootling “ta-ta” would be anticlimactic at best….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Breaded tofu balls? Dry toast on a stick? Deep-fried butter? What DO ex-presidents like, anyway?….

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Ffolkes,

I just spent a good twenty minutes trying to find a pearl to put here today; I feel a bit old fashioned, sort of, which prompted me to think it might  help get things moving…. Everything I found was, however, much more appropriate for use elsewhere, so, ultimately, I gave up, & here we are…. If I still had fear of the blank page, I’d be trembling and sweating by now, but, having trained myself to show no emotion in crisis situations, we’ll wait a few moments before we start to panic….

Not that I haven’t been known to panic, in the past, no sir…. In fact, it’s one of my best things…. I do get tired of cleaning up the messes that generally are left after such outbursts; maybe I shouldn’t carry grenades before lunch anymore? I don’t know, I kind of like the noise when they go off, and the screams of rage from next door are always a treat to hear…. I hate that guy, so pissing him off is a bonus….. This morning, fortuitously, we can count on NOT having to do any clean-up, as I’m out of grenades…. more’s the pity….

Baseball season has started again….. how ’bout them Giants, eh? What? A bit louder, I’m having a bit of earwax buildup going on in both ears….. Oh, I get it…. Well, ma’am, yes I do know I just lost half my audience by making the sports reference…. but, that half will go home & complain to their other half, which means in about twelve or so minutes, we’ll have a new influx of guys, all of whom don’t mind talking baseball… I mean, it’s like Dave Barry once pointed out, when he said, with startling alacrity, not to mention accuracy, “Most women, when asked to make a decision about whether they should save a baby, or catch an infield fly, will say they would save the baby, without ever considering how many men are on base, or how many outs there are….”

Hey, what’s all the abuse for? It’s not THAT old of a joke, is it? Boy, anyone would think I was getting paid for this….

I suppose I let myself in for that sort of abuse when I use such an obviously chauvinistic joke….. I generally try to avoid any sort of gender-based  humor, because we men and women have a hard enough time getting along, or understanding each other…. We don’t need the extra stress placed on us by the addition of being made fun of, even with the gentlest touch, or in the most tactful language…. Any and all confusion that can be avoided is a good thing, in my mind; there is already too much we DON’T understand about each other to keep creating misunderstandings, or poking at sore spots….

Oh, look…. We’ve stumbled and bumbled our way through another intro section, this one seemingly oblivious to all direction…. but, it works for me. In fact, it is such a good one, given its contrast with the usual crap you find here, I may see if I can do it this way again…. Of course, that would mean figuring out just what the hell I DID first…. I’m not sure I can figure the odds on that one, but, I’m so giddy with glee from being done with this section, I’m going to just ignore the rest, and get on with the day’s shenanigans….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Adam was but human — this explains it all.  He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I read the following articles in yesterday’s news, about the government’s abortive attempt to destabilize Cuba using a social networking platform they built, I fully intended to rant about it, as it clearly indicates the administration’s continued demonstration of their contempt and disregard for the American citizen’s right to privacy, as well as the complete debunking of our civil rights as outlined in the Bill of Rights…. It pisses me off royally, especially now that the White House is trying to defend its clandestine activities with more lies, even when confronted about them…. How can anyone think they can explain a lie with another lie?….

I am SO angry about this one, I can’t rant right now…. I’m going to have to let this percolate for a while, to organize my thoughts on the matter; right now it would come out as a threat of violence, which I won’t be ready to carry out for another little while…. Instead, I’ll again use an old-school pearl to vent what I’m feeling, and take some shots at the pundits who are making me crazy with their asinine contortions in the public arena over this spying issue….

It all makes me want to buy a gun; moreover, it makes me want to use it….. Instead, following the links, are a group of pearls, with the specific purpose of making me feel better, by striking out at the fucking assholes who keep showing how much they hate Americans…. even though we keep electing them…. I suppose it’s natural for bullies to disrespect their victims, isn’t it?….

“The reasons which any man offers to you for his own conduct betray his opinion of your character.” — Sir Arthur Helps

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/US-secretly-built-Cuban-Twitter-to-stir-unrest-5372422.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/White-House-defends-Cuban-Twitter-to-stir-unrest-5374712.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

“An hour’s perusal of our national charter makes it hard to understand what the argle-bargle is about. The First Amendment forbids infringements of the freedom of speech “except for commercials on children’s television” or “unless somebody says ‘****’ in a rap song or ‘chick’ on a college campus.” The Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” period. There is no mention of magazine size, rate of fire, or to what extent those arms may resemble assault rifles.” — P. J. O’Rourke

“The fact that Hitler was a political genius unmasks the nature of politics in general as no other can.” — Wilhelm Reich

“All lawyers should be shot.” — William Shakespeare

(Policy note: Did you ever wonder why so many politicians were lawyers first? I did, but, then, I went, “Oh, right…. Follow the money.”)

BOUNDARY, n.  In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“If it weren’t for lawyers, I think we could have invented a universal symbolic representation of reality.” — Smart Bee

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make deeds ill done!

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act iv, Sc. 2

“It’s the RINSE CYCLE!!  They’ve ALL IGNORED the RINSE CYCLE!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, I feel better….. Now, if only we can get them to rinse!….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m thinking I’ve inflicted enough of my own poetry on y’all for a while…. Here is a wonderful little translation of a poem from a colleague, if not a contemporary, of Li Po….

Full Moon

Above the tower — a lone, twice-sized moon.
On the cold river passing night-filled homes,
It scatters restless gold across the waves.
On mats, it shines richer than silken gauze.

Empty peaks, silence: among sparse stars,
Not yet flawed, it drifts. Pine and cinnamon
Spreading in my old garden . . . All light,
All ten thousand miles at once in its light!

~~ Tu Fu ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shadowy corporate snakeheads, (“snakeheads” is my newest shortcut name for the 1%,the rich and powerful who control the money and resources of this planet…. I use it because it is the English translation of the Chinese word for “slaver”, human traffickers who who dupe, or kidnap men, women, and children selling them into prostitution and/or slavery…. Thus, it becomes the perfect word to come after “corporate” when referring to one of those assholes….), who control the world, in their campaign to secure their position as the rulers of humanity, influenced the Shrubs enough during their terms in office that the Supreme Court justices they picked to replace dead judges were all their conservative buddies, all of whom are comfortably in the pockets of those self-same corporations. This, of course, has allowed the assholes who bought them to make even further inroads on our rights as individual citizens, by establishing the rights of corporations as superior to the rights of an individual….

A couple years ago, this led to the Citizens United decision, which gave the money-grubbers the opportunity to spend even more money on influencing politicians and elections, by forming giant Political Action Committees, where they could funnel millions of dollars into holding organizations, where it could be used for influencing elections, and to bribe congressional lawmakers…. That decision is a big part of how the Republican Party has managed to pass so many conservative laws in states around the nation, such as anti-abortion laws, and voting regulations which allow them to manipulate themselves into office, by providing obstacles which prevent the supporters of those who oppose them from voting….

Yesterday that decision was reinforced by yet another decision eroding our protection against corruption, a decision which removed most of the limits on how much money an individual can contribute, thus giving rich, avaricious, corrupt billionaires more say in Congress than the average citizen can match, allowing even more money to find a direct route into the Congressional pockets…. Below are two articles, from two sources, to offer a slightly different viewpoint (insofar as the media CAN be even-handed in their reporting….), just so we’re not limiting ourselves to one view…. C’mon back when you’re done, for what discussion may follow….

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Supreme-Court-strikes-down-overall-political-5371989.php

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/02/supreme-court-campaign-finance/4481675/

I’m pissed…. I’m so pissed, all I feel like doing is sitting here typing obscene names to call those assholes, in Texas (where Jr. lives….), Maryland (I think that’s where Shrub, Sr. lives…), and Washington D.C, at the courthouse, (where the Supremes hang out….)…. My next feeling, which somehow reminds me very much of sheer, unadulterated rage, is one that may just prompt me to go out, find a gun store, giving in to the urge buy the guns I’ve been considering…. Don’t worry, I won’t forget the ammunition…. I may have been a practicing pacifist for a long time, but, mostly, at least in terms of personal survival, that was just a pose to get the draft board off my back…. I have no issue with the use of force in support of what I believe is right…

For today, though, I’ll give myself some slack, which will give you some relief, from having to listen to my ranting over stuff we can’t change…. At least, nothing will change without resorting to drastic measures, in which most ffolkes are unwilling to engage, lest they risk increasing their karmic burden…. I figure it this way…. If we DON’T give up our insistence on non-violence, we are all going to die….. that is for sure and for certain, if things don’t change very soon….

That means there won’t be any next reincarnation, not on this planet, because it won’t have us; we are being evicted from this plane of existence… So, I don’t have to worry about coming back as in a form with less karmic status, as we won’t be coming back HERE at all…. Our energy configuration will just have to find some other reality to inhabit, because Mother Earth isn’t likely to rent to us again…. We’re too hard on the property….

Ah, the hell with it…. I’m pissed…. or did I say that already? Okay, I’m done…. Since I’m not organized or coherent enough to produce a true rant (I don’t consider this loud complaint a rant…. not enough reasoning, or quite enough structure….), I’ll fall back on another old-school pearl to close this out for the day….. I’ll bet you’re cheering inside, right?…. Okay, then, here, have it your way….

“Ignorance doesn’t kill you, but it makes you sweat a lot.” — Haitian proverb

“Faboo!, Would you like to see me make  bubbles with my spit?” — Wakko Warner

OCCIDENT, n.  The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.  It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful sub-tribe of the Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which they are pleased to call “war” and “commerce.”  These, also, are the principal industries of the Orient. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“There’s nothing wrong with you a shotgun blast to the face couldn’t fix.” — Smart Bee, from gigoid’s political fantasy files

— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled another joint for the President.

“And took for truth the test of ridicule.” — George Crabbe (1754-1832) — Tales of the Hall, Book viii, The Sisters

“Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

Perfect…. I have only one thing left to say, to wit:

“There are two intelligent responses to contemporary Western civilization: laughter and despair. You’ll note I’m not laughing.” — gigoid the dubious

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, that was certainly different…. Well, from THIS side, it was….. If I’ve done anything right today, well, y’all will let me know, won’t you? You can keep any injuries, or actionable complaints to yourselves, if you don’t mind…. or, just send them directly to my lawyers, who are hanging out at the White House….    

🙂

See y’all tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.

gigoid the dubious

dozer3